Next Time
by Missmione potter
Summary: JJ trusts Emily with a secret she has been carrying. Can Emily help her? What happens when the FBI agent becomes the victim. Can she learn to trust again? WARNING: Violent Will. Jemily. FF Slash. Rating has changed to M!
1. Chapter 1

_I don't own Criminal Minds!  
_

**_Next Time_**

Next time I'll grab my gun and run a bullet through his brain. Just not today.

This last case had really taken a toll on her. All she could think about as she put her key in the door was to get in the tub with a large glass of wine.

The door opened and she was greeted by a sight that should fill her stomach butterflies, Will LaMontage asleep on her couch, instead the sight of her boyfriend filled her with fear. It was obvious that the man had been waiting for her. Slowly she made her way towards him, debating whether to wake him or ignore him. A pathetic chuckle escaped her lips as she thought about the second alternative. Her reward for ignoring him would be much too expensive.

Sweat was already forming on her palms, heart pounding in her chest, and the always present knot in her throat made her very hesitant to approach him. Something whispered in her head, her gut instinct was to get out of there, tonight, she knew would be especially hard. All the evidence she needed sat at her feet by the couch, four empty beer bottles and an empty bourbon bottle.

_Maybe he won't wake up._ She though to herself. _Wishful thinking JJ._

Gathering the little courage she had left, she placed a trembling hand on Will's shoulder "wake up Will," she whispered. The man in question grunted and sat up.

"Cher, don't you know better than to wake me?" he answered, his eye closed. She could see his muscles tensing through the thin material of his t-shirt.

This was the moment she was trained for. More so, this was a moment her body was hard wired to react to. The human fight or flight instinct. Every fiber of her being was begging for her to run. Yet her own mind betrayed her, she stood there paralyzed in fear, she couldn't move.

"Jennifer, you are late. How many times do I have to teach you to not be late before it actually sinks into your pretty little head?" He started speaking as he stood up from the couch. Quicker that she would've thought possible he knocked he to the ground. Her head bashing against the coffee table as she fell.

The next hour was a blur of pain, hurt and shame. She stayed on the ground until she heard the front door close.

Hot tears burning in her eyes, she tried to stand up, barely managing to drag herself to the couch. She couldn't will more tears to come down, she need to pull herself together and to categorize the damage. Mentally she started to check every inch if her body.

After her inventory of injuries she realized that she needed to go to a hospital. Without a second thought she picked up her cell phone and called the one person she knew she could count on, always.

"hello Emily…? It's JJ"

**R&amp;R!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Jen? Do we have another case?" Emily asked sleepily.

JJ started to doubt asking her for help, she was clearly sleeping, but she also knew she needed to get to a hospital soon. "Em…" her name was followed by a sob.

"Jen? What's the matter? Are you ok?" the older profiler was now wide-awake. "Where are you? I'm coming over."

"I'm home Em, I need your help," she said through tears.

"Stay there I'm leaving right now," said Emily closing the door to her condo.

"Thank you."

The next 30 minutes felt like hours. JJ was very aware of every bruise and cut covering her body, the pain was mind numbing. She could barely concentrate on staying awake.

This time he had hit harder, longer. This time she hadn't fought back at all. She could feel the bruises forming on her stomach from a well-placed kick. She could feel the burning and pain on her ribs from where she knew he had broken them. Wave after of wave of dizziness swept over her. It could be so easy to just close her eyes and take a nap. But her years of training had taught her that consciousness was the key to any head injury, so she forced her eyes open.

The shrill ringing of her phone pulled her away from her thoughts. Caller ID showed her it was Emily.

"Hello?"

"Jen, I'm coming up the stairs now, open the door," Emily said slightly out of breath.

JJ tried to stand up, the pain was overwhelming, she couldn't see straight, she couldn't get to the door.

"I can't Em," JJ cried, she heard footsteps right outside her door.

"Sweetheart, you need to try," Emily was more than ready to kick the door in.

JJ stood up slowly on shaky feet; she covered the distance to her door, using the furniture and walls as support. When she was sure she couldn't take another step she was there. Wincing, she lifted her hands to open the door.

"Just a little more Jennifer," the brunette woman whispered from the other side of the door.

With the door finally open, Emily managed to step inside, JJ stood in front of her with her head down. "Look at me Jay," she put a gentle finger under the younger woman's chin and tilted the head up. She felt bile rising, anger didn't even begin to cover how she was feeling. JJ's face had been flawless less than three hours ago. Now she was covered in bruises, scrapes and drying blood.

"What happened? Who did this?" Emily was in shock; she had an inkling as to who the perpetrator was. JJ began to sway as another wave of dizziness hit her. She felt two strong arms keeping her up and slowly guiding her to the couch. Those same strong arms helped her lie down.

"He was waiting for me, he wasn't happy I was late tonight. This time was the worst," the blonde explained.

"Jen, we need to get you to a hospital," Emily said as she took in the scene before her. She saw the empty bottles on the ground as well as the blood on the coffee table. Her instincts were telling her to hunt this man down and make him pay for what he had done.

JJ started to slip back into the darkness of unconsciousness; it was Emily's cool hand caressing her bruised faced that made her aware of where she was. She had never mention this to anyone. It had been going on for a while now, and the threats of more pain had kept her mouth shut. She didn't know why she had called Emily. She was embarrassed, she was ashamed, she put men like Will behind bars for a living, why and when had she become the victim in this game?

Emily watch the emotions on the younger agent's face, she knew she was going to be shut out if she didn't do something quickly. As gently as she could she pulled the blonde woman to her arms.

"Jen, this is not your fault," she whispered kissing her forehead. "Right now we need to get you to a doctor, he won't touch you again, we won't let him."

The broken woman started to cry, "I'm sorry Em, I'm so sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," her eyes widened as she saw the large bloody spot JJ's head had left on the couch. She had one priority right now, she needed to get Jennifer to a hospital, her injuries were severe.

"Let's go to the hospital Jay," she whispered to the younger woman.

"Ok… you'll stay with me?" JJ asked sounding like a small child.

"Forever," Emily promised.

The drive to the hospital had been almost silent; JJ had not let go of Emily's hand the entire way. Once in the Emergency Room the doctors had asked Emily to sit in the waiting room, she took this opportunity to make a phone call. It was 3am but she knew he would pick up.

"Hotch? We have a problem."


	3. Chapter 3

_I don't own Criminal Minds!_

Chapter 3

The doctors hadn't been out with an update yet. It was almost 8 am, Emily was starting to get a little nervous. She spent the last few hours calling the team. The team that now was sitting in the waiting room with her, the team that was anxiously waiting for any type of update.

Hotch had been the first one to arrive, 15 minutes after the phone call. None of them knew JJ had been dating any one. JJ had kept it a secret. Hotch had Garcia working trying to find the man that had beaten the BAU liaison. So far they had nothing.

Finally at around 8:45 a nurse came out. "Emily Prentiss?" she called out to the waiting room.

"That's me, how is she?" Emily ran towards the nurse.

"Miss Prentiss, Jennifer suffered many injuries, the doctor would like to talk to you," said the nurse looking over at the expectant group of individuals standing behind the brunette.

"If you could follow me… I guess there's no use telling them to stay," said the nurse with a resigned smile.

"We are family, all of us," responded Hotch.

"Very well," the nurse started to walk back. She led them to a smaller waiting room, a young doctor waited for them there. He had a chart with him; they assumed it was JJ's.

"Good morning, I'm Dr. Sells. Why don't we all sit down and I'll update you on Jennifer's condition," suggested the young doctor.

"She sustained some severe injuries. She has a mild concussion. The laceration on the back of her head required 15 stitches. Thankfully her nose isn't broken, but she has some deep tissue bruising on her face and neck. The kick to her ribs broke three of them; she was lucky that they didn't puncture her lung. The CT showed some minor internal bleeding that seems to have resolved itself, but we'll continue to watch it closely. She had a large laceration on her thigh, which required suturing; there is extensive bruising on her abdomen and back. We did do a rape kit and there is no sign of sexual assault."

Emily felt relief wash over her when she heard that JJ hadn't been sexually assaulted. "Can we see her?" she asked the kind doctor.

"Yes you can, but we still have a few things to go over before you can go in," he replied.

Emily nodded for him to continue. "Jennifer will probably be released later this afternoon so long as her internal bleeding is under control. Her file says she lives alone. I can only release her if she is able to have someone with her round the clock for at least the next two weeks."

"I'll stay with her," Emily said without hesitation.

"Very well, now on the legal aspect, I'd encourage her to press charges to…" the doctor was cut off by Hotch.

"I don't believe her file says she is a Supervisory Special Agent with the FBI, I can assure you a full investigation is well under way," said Agent Hotchner. This bit of news seemed to both surprise and assuage the doctor.

The doctor nodded "I suppose it is important that I mention that along with her new injuries she had bruising in various stages of healing. This doesn't seem to the first time it has happened. Miss Prentiss, here are prescriptions; she's going to be in pain, I'd recommend getting those filled before she is discharged. She's asleep right now, only two visitors at the time until she wakes, room 104. I'll be by to check on her in a few hours," with that he turned and left.

"Why didn't she say anything?" asked Morgan running a hand over his face, his distress was obvious. "As soon as I know who that bastard is, he is going to regret even looking at JJ."

Reid quietly agreed with Morgan, but he was bothered by something else, "we are profilers, we didn't even notice, we didn't even suspect," he said quietly.

"She hid it well, but right now, all that doesn't matter. Emily and Morgan stay with JJ. Reid go have her locks changed, Garcia keep searching. Once she wakes Rossi and I will open an official investigation," Hotch was dealing, the only way he knew how, he took over the chaos and gave it order. Everyone had a task; Jennifer was their priority right now.

Everyone filed out leaving Emily and Morgan to walk to room 104. Slowly the brunette opened the door. The picture that greeted her was far from pretty. JJ lay on a hospital bed, her naturally pale complexion was even paler, making the bruises on her skin pop out. She heard Morgan cursing behind her.

She quickly walked to the bedside and took hold of JJ's cold hand. "I'm here sweetheart, come back to us," she whispered.

Morgan took a chair to the other side of the younger agent. But Emily could only look at Jennifer. Something inside of her was changing, she felt an urgent need to protect JJ, to make sure nothing ever hurt her again. Of course they were best friends, had been for a while, but this was different. Her eyes shifted to the blonde's lips, she felt an urge to kiss them, to kiss away the pain.

**R&amp;R!**


	4. Chapter 4

_I don't own Criminal Minds!_

Chapter 4

She didn't know how much time had passed or even where she was, all she knew was pain, every single inch of her body hurt. Willing herself to open her eyes she saw a mass of black hair laying on top of her right hand.

The reality of the situation hit her. She remembered Will and the "punishment" she had received. Why had she called Emily? Will was going to be very angry once he found out, turning her sight from the brunette agent she noticed that there was another person in the room with them. He was asleep as well, but if he was there it meant that the team had found out.

Closing her eyes and praying to whichever God would listen, she asked for the darkness of sleep, she wanted to close her eyes and go back to the night before. It had probably been her head injury that had prompted her to call Emily. She wasn't thinking straight. She thought about Will and what he had done the night before.

How could she face her team mates, how could she tell them that she had become a victim herself. Unaware to the other people in the room she began to cry. The first one to stir awake had been Emily.

"Shhh Jennifer, you're safe now," she whispered standing up to take the younger agent in her arms.

"You don't understand, once he finds out you know, he'll come after me," she buried her head in the crook of Emily's neck, it was the only place she felt safe. "Don't leave me Emily, he's going to find me."

By then Morgan had been roused from his sleep, having heard JJ's desperate pleas, he got closer "he will NEVER come near you again JayJ, I will make sure of that." He bowed right then and there to protect her no matter what.

Emily just held onto the crying woman, whispering soothing words, running her long fingers through the blonde locks. She too, promised herself that she would protect JJ. She didn't completely understand how her feeling had changed, but of one thing she was sure, she loved Jennifer Jareau, and she protected what she loved. With that revelation Emily started to pull away from the embrace, only to be met with resistance.

"Don't go," JJ asked.

Emily held her close again, maneuvering them so that they were both laying on the bed with JJ's head tucked under her chin. "I'm not going anywhere sweetheart, I'll stay with you for as long as you want me too." JJ seemed to relax at that declaration, she also missed the meaningful exchange between Emily and Morgan. Derek seemed to have understood what she was asking as he quietly slipped out of the room to find the doctor.

"JayJ, they are going to discharge you this afternoon, they are letting you go on one condition," blue eyes met brown, "you need to have someone with you for the next two weeks."

Before JJ could get a word out Emily continued "this is not up for discussion, I'm going to be staying with you, my question is whether you want to stay at your place or mine?" JJ eyes filled with tears, grateful tears. "Can we stay at your place?" she asked sounding like a small child asking for permission.

"Of course, we can, we…" Emily was interrupted by Dr. Sell walking into the room.

"Agent Jareau, your awake, let see how you're doing. If all goes well you'll be able to go home after this check up. Miss Prentiss could you give us some privacy?" Emily nodded and started to get up, only to see the panicked blue eyes of Jennifer Jareau.

"Do you mind if I stay Doctor, JJ might feel a little more comfortable," asked the brunette, making it clear that it was not an option.

"Sure no problem, it might actually be beneficial since you are going to be changing her dressings when she's discharged."

Emily had not been prepared to see the damage that had been inflicted on JJ's body. They started at the top of her head cleaning the long gash on the back of her head. They went down her face applying some type of ointment on the bruises there. When they took her gown off JJ was left with her bra and underwear, while Emily barely suppressed the sob threatening to escape her throat. The bruises were large and angry looking. Slowly as they finished changing the bandage on her thigh and gave her the final dose of IV medication the nurse brought over JJ ready-bag. Emily silently thanked Garcia for her thoughtfulness. Emily took over the task of getting JJ dressed. The doctor gave them all the final instructions and left, leaving the discharge papers on the bed. As soon as Dr. Sells walked out Morgan came in with a wheel chair.

"Ready Baby Girl, lets get you home," he said with an easy smile. JJ attempted to return the gesture. Emily helped her off the bed and on to the chair, whispering in her ear "I'll be right here with you, I'll push your chair." JJ nodded appreciating the information.

The entire team was waiting outside by the FBI issued black SUV's. JJ could help but grin when she took in the sight. Their eyes were full of love and determination.

Sitting next to Emily, holding her hand, JJ finally felt safe, for the first time in six months.

That safety was shattered when Hotch turned to look at her and asked the one question she was dreading.

"Jennifer, we need to know his name."

**R&amp;R!**


	5. Chapter 5

_I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!_

Chapter 5

They sat all in Emily's living room. Each clutching a cup of coffee, each waiting for JJ to talk. Hotch knew the police needed JJ's official statement, he had stalled them longer than expected but he also knew that JJ need to feel safe again before she started to talk.

"Remember the case we had in New Orleans?" JJ asked, noticing the nods she continued, "remember Detective William LaMontage?" once again the team confirmed the information.

"He and I have been seeing each other for the last six months, he flies to DC every weekend. I never thought it'd get this far. One Friday after a case I went home and found him in my apartment. He was the perfect gentleman for the first month but I wasn't interested so when I went to break things of with him he got upset and that's when it started. I don't know why I didn't tell you sooner, I don't know when I became the victim," she kept going trying to hold the tears back, "Right after he "punishes" me he puts his gun to my head and threatens to kill me if I tell anyone. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You must think I'm so weak!" JJ broke down in Emily's arms. The team exchanged a look of pure fury with each other.

"Sunshine, we don't think you're weak, Jay you are so strong!" Gracia said kneeling in front of JJ and Emily. Garcia wanted nothing more than to take the weeping girl in her arms, but a look at Emily stopped her. Garcia didn't think Emily would let go of the blonde even if Mrs. Jareau had been the one to ask.

"JayJ, you don't have to worry about that, we love you, we are family, you told me that once, you take care of your family," said Reid softly.

Rossi had been quiet for the most part, he was the newest member of the team, but he felt closer to the blonde agent than to anyone else, other than Hotch. He wanted to take some of the pain away, "hey, Kid don't think that way, Detective LaMontage will never come near you again and he will certainly regret everything he did."

JJ looked up from her designated spot in Emily's arms. She tried to smile at all of them, but it quickly crumbled. She knew they were right, she had used those same words on victims. But it was different now; the only thing that kept her grounded was Emily and the soft word she whispered in her ear. She wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but she knew she had to give an official statement. She knew Hotch had stalled it. JJ tipped her face up towards Emily's ear, "I need to give an official statement, don't I?" Emily nodded and held her a little tighter.

Morgan having heard the quiet exchange got up "Hotch, I'm going to get the suits up hear so JJ can give her statement." Hotch nodded and followed Morgan out the door.

"Jen, it's time for your medicine," said the brunette agent handing JJ two small pills and a glass of water.

Blue eyes met brown ones, a look so intense it bordered on intimate, "thank you Emily," she tried to convey all her emotions into those three words. It was more than just a thank you for the medicine; it was a thank you for everything.

The magic of the moment broke as Hotch, Morgan, and two detectives entered the condo. JJ tensed up immediately, her heart started pounding, and her breath was coming in short puffs. The little bit of color she had gained during the day was gone.

Hotch noticed these changes "Detectives, could you please come into the kitchen, Agent Jareau will join you shortly," he walked them out of the room.

Emily noticed these changes as well, she kneeled in front of the hyperventilating girl, she took her face in her hands and very gently she started talking to her. "Sweetheart, you're ok, he's not here, you're safe, Jay stay with me. Take deep slow breaths." Reid handed her a cool washcloth, Emily put it on the back of JJ's neck. Slowly they managed to calm her down, enough so they could at least talk.

Looking straight at the terrified blue eyes "Jen, we need your official statement," JJ nodded, attempting to stand up. "Hold on pretty girl, let me help you," the older agent grinned.

Emily walked her to the kitchen and didn't leave until JJ was comfortably seated on a stool and had a cup of coffee in her hands and a box of tissues near by.

The interview took almost two hours. The team stayed near the kitchen door, trying their best not to listen to the sobs coming from the other room. Emily was beside herself, Garcia wasn't much better. Just as Emily was getting ready to kick the door open one of the detectives popped his head out signaling that they were done there.

Morgan walked into the kitchen quickly, picking up the broken woman. Emily directed him to take her upstairs and into her own bedroom. It had been enough for one day, they all needed rest.

"Goodnight Kid, feel better," whispered Morgan setting JJ down, he leaned over and kissed her bruised forehead. "I'll be right downstairs if you need anything." With that he left the room, leaving JJ in Emily's very capable hands.

JJ finally noticed where she was "Em, I can sleep on the couch you don't have to give me your bed." Emily just smiled and shook her head. "Jen, I have two guestrooms in this place, you are more certainly not sleeping on the couch and you are on my bed because I need to keep a close eye on you for the next few nights."

"I'm going to go take a shower Jen, are you going to be ok by yourself?" Emily asked. The blonde woman nodded. "The entire team is downstairs so you won't be alone."

JJ was finally beginning to relax, sleep was tugging at her eyes. The shrill ringing of her phone cleared her foggy mind. Looking at her caller ID she didn't recognize the number, not really thinking she picked up.

"Hello Cher, I see you shared our little secret"

**Should I keep writing? R&amp;R**


	6. Chapter 6

_I don't own Criminal Minds!_

Chapter 6

She had hoped she'd never have to hear him again. Panic flooded her system, she could not answer, she couldn't move, her body clamped down. She bit her cheek, the coppery liquid started to flow in her mouth. She was aware that Will was still speaking on the phone; she should probably get up and tell someone. Using the last bit of strength she had left she heaved herself out of bed and in the direction of the bathroom where she knew Emily was.

Just as JJ lifted a hand to open the door, Emily stepped out. "Jen, are you ok?" the brunette questioned gently. JJ just handed her the phone.

Emily had about two seconds to figure out what JJ was trying to say when she heard a masculine voice coming from the receiver of the phone.

_"It ain't over Jennifer, I'll come after you and you'll regret ever openin' that fuckin' mouth of yours. I know where you live Cher, I know how to get in. Your precious BAU'll leave you alone eventually, I'm a patient man, I can wait."_

The older agent looked at the paling woman in front of her. She had a mental conundrum, she had to get the phone to Garcia, but she couldn't leave JJ alone right now. Making up her mind she grabbed the smaller woman's hand and slowly lead her to where the team sat talking. Their entrance was greeted by a sudden silence.

Hotch got up and started making his way to the two women. Emily took the opportunity to press the speaker button on the phone. Flooding her living room with the threats of one William LaMontage.

_"I know you were at the hospital earlier, your probably in your apartment right now, probably feelin' safe, but Cher don't lie to yourself, I'm always watchin, I'm always standin right behind you. You'll never see it comin. And Agent Jareau not only will I teach you how a woman is to behave, but I will show you, you'll get on your knees and…"_

Hotch took the phone from Emily's hand and handed it to Garcia. The analyst had her laptop open, readily waiting for the devise. She started to triangulate the location of the phone; it took three more minutes of listening to the detective. As soon as they had the location, Morgan picked up the phone. "Detective, you will loose this fight, you picked the wrong woman to mess with, we will be ready for you," he whispered in a voice that none of them had ever heard him use.

"Oh and Detective watch your back."

_"You stupid bitch, you can't even defend yourself, you're worthless…"_

Morgan ended the call, all eyes on JJ. Hotch once again took control of the situation "Garcia send the coordinates to the local police, flag it as high priority." Garcia nodded and got on the phone, inter-agency relations were JJ's domain, but right now the analyst was happy the responsibility fell on her.

Emily took this chance to look at the blonde next to her, she was pale and trembling, she also noticed the blood in JJ's mouth. "Jen what happened? Are you bleeding?"

JJ looked up to the taller agent and felt herself sag into those strong arms "I bit my cheek, nothing to worry about," she said softly. Emily helped the young woman back into the bedroom, exchanging a glance with the team.

She put the blonde woman in bed and handed her nighttime meds, she knew this pill would almost immediately knock out the woman on her bed. She needed JJ asleep, she needed to talk to the team and they needed to come up with a plan. For the first time in her life Emily was grateful for her mother's money. She would install the best security system available. Sending a prayer to a God she wasn't sure existed, she asked for protection and rest for this young woman, with a soft kiss on the forehead she left the sleeping Jennifer and headed to her living room. William LaMontage has just declared war on the BAU, more importantly he had declared war on the person she loved the most. He was not getting away with it. She would hunt him down.

Out in the living room, the team was getting organized. They knew that Will would stay under the radar for a while. Especially now that JJ had alerted them of his existence.

Hotch stood in front of the fireplace "JJ goes nowhere alone, do I make myself clear? Where ever she goes at least one gun follows her. Prentiss can she stay here indefinitely?"

Emily nodded a little offended he felt the need to ask that. He continued unfazed "we will stay on rotation but we will also work this as a case. Strauss has given us the lead on it. JJ will be back to the BAU in two weeks. Until then this apartment is home base. Any available time you have, you are to spend here." The agents not only nodded but agreed whole heartedly with the upcoming living arrangements. "Sir, we just got eyes and ears in New Orleans, I called in a few favors and it has been arranged," informed Garcia walking back into the room. "Detective Crawfish seems to be in his hometown, once he surfaces we will be the first ones to know."

Hotch looked at her in amazement "good, Prentiss I am arranging a two week paid leave for you. Please take care of her." Emily would have taken an unpaid leave of absence if need, she was JJ's self-proclaimed body guard.

"Reid, Rossi I need you to come up with a profile, Prentiss will be able to aid you as it seems Agent Jareau has and will open up to her the most. We need to know how, as Garcia puts it, Detective Crawfish operates."

"It has been a long day for everyone, Prentiss we will meet here again tomorrow, for now the best thing we can all do is get some rest and look at all the evidence with fresh eyes tomorrow," said Hotch effectively dismissing them to go home. While all of them were a little hesitant to leave the two women alone they knew that with Will being in New Orleans, they would be safe.

That didn't stop Morgan "Princess, I'm just a phone call away, if you even suspect something, including a leaky faucet you call me."

Emily smiled appreciating the concern and trust the team was putting on her, JJ was the heart of the team, she was well loved among all of them. She promised right there and then that she would do absolutely everything in her power to make sure Agent Jennifer Jareau was safe and well looked after.

As the last of the team members left, Emily locked the doors and did a walk through of the entire condo she barricaded the front door and turned the alarm on. Only then did she walk upstairs and joined Jennifer. Sleep would not come easy for her that night. In between the worry and the smaller agent's sleepy whimpers she barely slept.

Once asleep she was pulled away from her dreams by a sob right next to her, opening her eyes she say JJ curled up in a ball crying.

"JayJ are you in pain?" was her first question, knowing the answer would be no. "Emily I'm so scared," JJ confessed in tears.

Emily scooted herself closer to the crying body next to her and took her in her arms, they were face to face. She could see the sorrow and shame radiating from those blue eyes she had loved so much. "I've got you sweetheart, you're not alone."

"Would you hold me?" asked the blonde in a broken whisper.

Emily held her tighter and kissed her forehead, "of course I'll hold, I'll be here if you wake up, I'll always hold you Jennifer." JJ sank into the embrace and lightly pressed her lips against the brunette's. "I don't want you to ever let go," she whispered sleepily. Emily realized what had just happened and vowed to never let go.

_"I love you Jennifer Jareau."_

Not realizing she had said it out loud, her eyes snapped open when she heard her companion whisper "I love you too Emily."

**Please R&amp;R!**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Morning came much quicker than expected. The bad was a sea of black silk and tangled limbs. JJ had her head on Emily's shoulder, holding on to the older woman as if she was a lifeline. Emily on the other hand held the smaller woman protectively. That is how Garcia found them the next morning. The analyst had a small frown on her face as she looked on to the picture before her. She wasn't upset, she wasn't surprised either. Garcia wanted to preserve the innocence of the moment. She wanted to take both women's hearts and keep them safe. She wanted this little bubble to keep them safe. It was then that she promise the sleeping forms that she would have their back. No one was going to mess with her girls, she would protect them. Even if the JJ and Emily didn't know it yet, they would get their happy ending.

With this last thoughts she walked out of the room, and made herself at home making coffee for herself and the two sleeping beauties upstairs.

Back in the bedroom, Emily slowly started to stir, she felt the soft weight on her shoulder, even in her groggy disoriented state she knew that it was JJ laying on her. A small smile crossed her features even before she had a chance to open her eyes. Pulling the younger woman closer to her, she would not move until the small agent had woken up.

As if JJ had read her mind, she opened her eyes. Flitting panic filled her for a few seconds before she realized where she was. The scent that was just unmistakably Emily intoxicated her. She felt safe in her little cocoon of black silk, soft arms and silky black hair. Blue eyes searched for the chocolate pools she had come to know so very well.

"Good morning," Emily whispered in her ear.

JJ smiled at the older agent. She wanted to stay in this bed and ignore the world, but the pain she was starting to feel prompted a groan to escape her lips.

Emily head snapped up taking in the blonde in her arms, she scanned her body for the source of pain. Seeing a petite hand clutch a ribcage gave her a pretty good idea that it was time for more pain medication. Slowly she started to extract herself with only one though running in her head.

"Don't go," came a sleepy request from JJ. Emily's eyes softened when she look at the young woman in her bed. "I'm going to get your medicine sweetheart, I'll be right back," Emily murmured.

"I don't need any medicine Em, just come back to bed," JJ whispered, voice strained with pain. Emily smiled tenderly, picking up one of JJ's hand and pressing her lips to the palm. "I'll be right back Jen, don't move."

Emily went straight to her kitchen and just about jumped out of her skin when she saw the technical analyst sitting in her breakfast bar.

"Garcia, I didn't know you were here. Be happy I didn't have a gun," she silently two the two coffee mugs and prescription bottles from her and headed right back out.

Climbing the stairs she thought back on the events of the last few days. In the minute it took her to get from her kitchen to her bedroom she tried to analyze her ever changing feeling for the blonde woman resting on her bed. She had never been with a woman before, but JJ made her question her entire life. She knew she wanted JJ, she knew she wanted to kiss her, she wanted to hold her, she wanted just to be with her, of course sex had crossed her mind but that thought was quickly removed. JJ needed her to protect her, she didn't need Emily to jump her bones.

When she opened the door she was greeted by an empty bed. Fear rushed through her veins, how she hated that she had sound proofed her room. The coffee sat forgotten on her dresser as she went to look around for the agent in question.

She check the bathroom, it was empty. She looked in the closet and that too was empty. A slight grunt pulled her attention to the side of the bed away from the door. As she approached the area she found JJ laying on the ground obviously having rolled off the bed. She wanted to laugh, but the concern for JJ's well-being over rode the humor.

"JayJ, are you ok?" She bent over gently helping the younger agent to a sitting position.

"What do you thing?" JJ responded, her words laced with sarcasm.

Emily stifled a chuckle, now aware that JJ was indeed fine, "I told you not to move."

Blue eyes met brown ones "I had to use the bathroom."

Saving her any more embarrassment she helped JJ to the restroom and waited outside door. When JJ made her way out of the restroom, Emily silently handed her a cup of coffee and her medication.

"Not a word of this to anyone," said the blonde woman.

Not being able to hold her laughter anymore Emily promise, "Not a word, I promise."

About 20 minutes later, the medication hadn't kicked in yet, JJ was laying on the bed, her eyes closed, trying to manage the pain. The brunet agent ran her hand through a sweaty forehead, praying for the medication to work. That's how Garcia found them.

"Oh God, Emily is she ok?" the analyst ran to the side of the bed.

"Yeah, she will be, the medication should start kicking in soon…" Emily responded never looking away from JJ.

It was a while later before JJ fell asleep, exhausted from the pain. Emily and Garcia headed downstairs, just in time to find Morgan and Reid walking through her front door.

"Does everyone have a key to my apartment?" she asked with a chuckle.

Garcia looked down "I took the liberty of making a copy for everyone, since our Sunshine is staying here, and considering this is our new home base…" she mumble.

Morgan chuckled at the exchange. "Princess, Baby Girl how is JayJ doing?" he asked all joking gone from his demeanor.

Emily took a sit on the couch "she had a rough morning, the pain was pretty high." She hated to see the younger woman in pain. This morning had been draining on all three women.

Reid finally spoke "you know that is pretty typical, the medication they gave her at the hospital run it's way through her system leaving her only with a medication only 1/5 as potent as the narcotics she received earlier. Medically speaking this morning should be the worst of it."

"As reassuring as I know you are trying to be, I just hate to see her in pain," mumbled Emily.

The day went on as well as could be expected, they got a couple hits on Will's credit card, but they were in different cities. It would have taken too many resources to chase what the team knew where going to be empty leads.

JJ had slept all day, being woken up to eat every few hours. Finally that evening as the team started to clear the apartment, there was a knock at the door. Five hands reached for their guns, slowly Hotch opened the door to find a young delivery boy holding a bouquet of red roses.

"Sign here sir," the boy push a clipboard to the agent.

Closing the door the team look at the card on the flowers:

_I found you_.

**Please R&amp;R**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Emily walked upstairs, ignoring the commotion of the living room. She knew JJ would not be happy if they didn't inform her of the newest development. As her had went to grip the doorknob she hesitated, maybe it was better to keep quiet.

Shaking her head, knowing that was not an option she entered her bedroom. JJ looked up from where she was laying.

"Hey," she greeted the taller agent.

Emily didn't respond immediately, she walked closer to the bed and sat down behind JJ, gently taking the younger woman in her arms she whispered "Jen, we need to talk," pausing to kiss her forehead, "Will set a bouquet of red roses with a note."

JJ held on to Emily tighter, with silent tears running down her cheeks she looked at Emily. Her eyes shone with fear. "He knows where you live?" she asked quietly.

Emily could only nod. Jennifer's face crumpled "I'm so sorry, I've put you in danger, I'm so sorry Emily."

She did the only thing she thought would call the young blonde in her arms, she kissed her. It was a kiss that held a promise, a promise that meant the world to JJ.

"He will not come near you again, you didn't put me in danger sweetheart, we have six agents in this apartment, you are safe. I promise," JJ still didn't look sure of this new information. Her own body was betraying, she felt her eye lids droop, no doubt because of her medication and the emotional distress she was feeling.

"I love you Emily," she said tiredly, leaning her head on the brunette's chest.

"I love you too sweetheart," Emily whispered back, laying the now sleeping agent back in bed.

Making her way back downstairs, Emily decided that enough was enough. The team needed a plan. She would not let that man hurt her Jennifer anymore. The team looked up at her arrival. She shook her head, letting them know it hadn't gone well.

Garcia hung up the phone, "I traced the flower shop, the order was placed from Louisiana. Looks like Detective Scumbag is still hiding in New Orleans." Hotch nodded at this new piece of information. He was concerned, Emily's address was not public knowledge, he had to have someone looking through his team's files to find it. He started to think about his team, he consider them all family, and he'd be damned if someone messed with his family.

"Aright, Morgan, Reid and I will stay here tonight, I wouldn't put it past him to make anymore threats tonight, Prentiss are you installing the new security system tomorrow?" Emily nodded, "Garcia run a tap on all of our phones, I want to know if calls again. Rossi I need you to talk to Strauss, we need the full force of the FBI at our disposal."

Garcia started typing away, only when a ding came from her computer did the team break the silence.

The analyst look sheepishly at the team "That was JJ doctor appointment reminder, it's tomorrow at 9 am."

"Morgan will go with her, Emily you need to be here for the security system," said Hotch looking at Emily, he knew she wanted to go with JJ, but their security was his priority.

Slowly in the next two hours the team dispersed, Hotch and Reid claiming each a guestroom, while Morgan took over the couch. Locking the doors and setting the alarm Emily walked back to the couch.

Morgan put a comforting arm around the distressed agent, "Princess, we'll catch this son of a bitch, you just take care of our girl, she needs you," he said smiling and wiggling his eyebrows.

Agent Prentiss gave him an incredulous look, a soft blush working her way to her cheeks, "Don't think I didn't notice the chemistry between you two, Garcia and I had a running bet on how long it take you to figure it out," she chuckled at his incredibly perceptive friend.

"Who won?" she asked.

"Hotch," he deadpanned.

"Go get some rest Princess we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow," she stood up not believing her boss had been in on a bet about her love life.

She went through her nightly routine, coming out of the bathroom she was met with big blue eyes looking up at her. Silently she made her way to her spot next to JJ. The younger agent crawled into the Emily's arms, holding onto the older agent as tight as her broken body would allow.

"Hey Jen, you're aright, I've got you," she whisper hoping to comfort the blonde.

"Just promise me that you'll never let go," JJ countered.

She answered her with a kiss. Pulling away from her lips she put their foreheads together, trying to convey with her eyes what she couldn't put into words. JJ seemed to have understood because she closed her eyes let sleep claim her.

The night was peaceful, no nightmares, no tears. Both of them woke up feeling refreshed and ready, albeit unwillingly, to face the day.

Neither of the spoke about their shared kisses, or the progression of whatever it was they had, they just knew, intrinsically, that they were together. For Emily nothing had felt more right than this before. For JJ it was much anticipated. What she hadn't told the team, the day they spoke about her relationship with Will was the fact that the reason why she had broken it off with the agent was to pursue the profiler laying next to her. It would be a while before she was ready to open up and learn to trust again, but when they looked back on this night they both knew it had marked the beginning of the rest of their lives.

The sun showed no mercy that morning, its rays beating down on the two sleeping bodies much earlier than either of them would like. Emily was set on ignoring the light when a knock at her door pulled her away from her early morning fog.

"Gumdrop? Our Angel has to get ready for her appointment; it's almost 7:00am. Do you need anything?" asked the technical analyst, trying to give them as much privacy as possible, not even stepping into the room.

"Coffee," came a grunt from a half asleep JJ.

"That I can do my Sweets, I shall be back with some caffeinated beverages," Emily smiled at Garcia's antics, rolling over in search of familiar blue eyes, Emily was met with a pair of lips begging to be kissed.

Closing the short distance she was rewarded by a surprisingly strong arm pulling her closer. Just for those few minutes they forgot about Will, they forgot that their entire team was probably already assembled in the living room, they forgot of the pain of JJ's injuries. Just for those few minutes they were immersed in themselves. It was over almost as soon as it begun, Garcia broke the magic in as she loudly announced herself before entering the room.

The minute they saw their colorful friend, reality set back in. But things were different now, JJ wasn't as scared and Emily was just a little more determined.

**Should I keep going? R&amp;R!**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Are you sure you'll be ok?" asked Emily for the tenth time, JJ smiled and nodded. She wanted to this by herself. Baby steps, Garcia had told her, a shower was a baby step.

She could see the reluctance in Emily's eyes as she closed the door. JJ made slow work of taking her clothes off. Her body was still incredibly sore. Just that small task had taken most of her energy. With a shaky hand she opened the faucet, letting the water warm up she ventured a look in the mirror. She hadn't seen her reflections for two days. She had avoided looking at the bruises marring her skin.

It only took a glance; the bright purples and greens not only covered her face but her body as well. She felt ugly.

Will had never hit her in places she couldn't hide before, this was new. She could look any more she grabbed a towel and covered as much of her self as she could. The young agent didn't know when she had dropped to the ground, or exactly when the tears had started coming down.

Garcia saw Emily walking into the living room, "Where's our Angel?" she asked casually.

"Taking a shower, she said she didn't need any help," responded the brunette somewhat upset.

Garcia stood up "I'll go check on her Sugar Plum," Emily smiled gratefully.

The technical analyst made her way to the bathroom in the master suite, her pace quickened when she heard a soft thump. Opening the door, not caring whether JJ was naked or not. She found the young blonde crumpled on the floor crying.

"EMILY," yelled Garcia.

The brunette agent came running into the room, her heart stopped at the sight that awaited her. She knew JJ wasn't aware of their presence yet. Taking advantage of the situation she bent over and took the crying woman in her arms. She was aware that Garcia had stepped behind them and turned off the shower.

Tear filled eyes looked up at her. "Shhh JayJe, I've got you."

She didn't register the door opening or Garcia calling Emily. She only became aware of her surroundings when two arms hugged her.

"Have you looked at me Emily?" asked the younger woman.

Emily started putting the pices together, "yes, I have and you are beautiful," she answered.

"I feel dirty, I need to wash him off my skin," JJ cried.

Emily helped the woman stand up and looked over at Garcia standing in the doorway. Penelope immediately understood and walked over to start the shower again.

Very tenderly she whispered, "we'll help you sweetheart, ok?"

JJ nodded, she let Emily put her in the shower and she let them both clean her of the mess Will had left behind. It was a turning point, JJ let the water wash her clean, leaning on her best friends for help. They didn't just wash away the grime, they washed away the pain.

After the shower Penelope left to grab some clothes for the blonde. Emily helped her get dressed while Garcia dried her hair.

"There you go Sunshine, squeaky clean," the analyst tried to smile.

With her head down, but feeling so much better JJ thanked them.

"Non sense, Sunshine, happy to help you, plus I think this one" she said pointing at Emily, "has been dying to see you in your birthday suit." They could always count on Garcia to break the tension.

They made their way to the living room, Emily handed her precious cargo to Morgan, with a look that begged him to take care of her. She could see the determination in his eyes; they would have to through him to get to the blonde.

"Ready Doll Face? Lets get you to the doctor," with that they left.

Emily had a busy day ahead of her. One call to ambassador Prentiss guaranteed her the best surveillance and security system money could buy. It was purchased and installed within two hours. Just on time for the arrival of the young agent on everyone's mind.

"How did it go?" asked Reid.

JJ sat down on the couch gratefully taking the cup of coffee Hotch was offering. "As well as expected. The doctor wrapped my ribs again, and pulled the stitches. The cut on my leg looked a little infected so he started my on antibiotics, he said I could go back to work in ten days."

Morgan cleared his throat, signaling the team that there was something else she was not saying, "The doctor also told JayJ here to take it easy for those ten days, she lost some weight and her blood test showed she's anemic. Here Prentiss these are her new prescriptions."

JJ glared at him, but he just shrugged it off. Slowly things were going back to normal. Garcia hovered incessantly, and Emily has never more than three feet away from her. Under any other circumstance that would've bother her, but right noe it gave her a sense of safety. She would take all the coddling her "family" would provide, it didn't matter, because for the first time in moths she felt normal.

The next few days had been trying, JJ learned to ask for help and Emily learned that Morgan could eat her out of a home. There had been no further contact from Will and Hotch had decided it was ok for all of them to return to their homes. He didn't want to let it go, but knew that they were already pushing it with Strauss.

Emily and JJ hadn't moved passed the occasional kisses shared in the privacy of their bedroom, and even though JJ could now manage standing up and walking by herself she had remained sleeping in the brunettes bed.

A sense of security had instilled, they were all well aware that Will could show at any moment, and they'd be ready. But Will held no power over them, over JJ. They were moving past this ordeal. And while JJ was ready to go back to work Emily wasn't all that ready to let her go.

It was JJ's phone ringing that once again sobered the team.

"Hotch, we have a case"


	10. Chapter 10

**Spoiler warning! I don't own anything!**

**Stick around this story is turning out to be longer than anticipated; it took life of its own! R&amp;R**

Chapter 10

Twenty minutes later the team was assembled in the plane. JJ starts to brief the them "We are heading to Pittsburgh, PA. Four months ago 14 children died in a fire," she says handing pictures that graphically showed the deaths. "over the past three months there have been five suicides in the area – all people who lost children in that fire. Paul Baleman was found electrocuted in his bathroom yesterday."

With a look of confusion Morgan asked, "Why do they need our help? They're suicides."

JJ didn't get a chance to reply, Reid beating her to the punch "All of the suicides were within 2 weeks of each other. It could be some kind of pattern."

The darker agent didn't seem to agree. "Det. Baleman thinks something else is going on," replied JJ, exhaustion evident in her voice.

"Well of course he does," mumbled Morgan.

Casting a concerned glance at the liaison, Emily spoke up "Now, wait a second.  
In the same neighborhood? Within months? That's a serious spike."

Standing up, Reid picked up where Emily left off "Prentiss is right. Suicides don't spike after a tragedy. Quite the opposite, actually. Following World War I and II, right after Kennedy was shot, and following 9/11, suicides plummeted. Within a society, external threats usually create group integrations."

"People tend to come together when faced with an external threat," added Rossi.

"So if there's reason for doubt, which there obviously is, Don't those families left behind have a right to know?" asked Emily standing up to help JJ sit down. She knew the younger agent was over doing it. JJ would never admit it aloud, but letting Emily help her to a seat was enough to remind the team that she was still recovering.

Hotch had remained silent during the exchange, his mind was already made up "Yes, they do," he said looking at Morgan.

"Ok, sure, they deserve to know, but let somebody else tell them, like social services," mumbled Morgan.

Agent Hotchner chose to ignore the comment, "Contact detective Baleman. Let him know we'll be arriving soon," he said looking at JJ.

Twenty minutes later, Agent Morgan was still a skeptic about the situation, "we should've never have taken this case. And I say case in the loosest sense."

Rossi having had enough of the argument walked behind Morgan's seat, "We'll follow the facts as they are without bias. Isn't that what we do?"

Shaking his head "What facts, Rossi? Look at us. We don't have a single file," responded the annoyed agent.

"Ok, let me help you out," said the Italian, "Jump right in anytime," he said to the team. "Fact one there are no files, so it seems no case."

"But what if there is?" asked Reid.

"One fire, 14 deaths, all the suicides are connected to the original fire," Prentiss took the floor.

"And all exactly 2 weeks apart," followed Hotch.

Rossi shook his head, surprised that Morgan was pretty much dismissing the evidence, "Come on, Derek, you can't tell me that doesn't feel a lot like a pattern."

Lifting her head from her current resting spot, "and a timeline," added a tired JJ.

"That's a whole world of grief, and for a few suicide's their only way out," mentioned Morgan, knowing he'd already lost the battle.

Not giving up the argument, "Or someone decided it was," deadpanned Rossi.

Taking the bait the darker agent retorted, "And made it look this way? What if they have? Then we're looking for one very smart unsub."

"Who targets people in grief," came from Hotch, "And that would make them what?"

Reid's eyes opened wide at the realization, "someone who thinks they're putting they're putting them out of their misery; an angel of death."

The rest of the plane ride was practically silent. Emily's concerned glances weren't missed by anyone, neither was the fact that JJ had quickly fallen asleep.

Once the plane landed Rossi pulled Hotch to the side, "It's too soon for her to be back at work," said the Italian.

"It will be handled," he put a hand on Rossi's arm, "she will stay at the station for much of this case, I will not let any more harm come her way," with a curt nod the younger agent started to follow his team to the three FBI issued SUV's.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Opening the door to the precinct she saw a detective approaching them. Sticking his hand out to the blonde, "Agent Jareau? Hi. I'm detective Ronnie baleman," he greeted.

"Hi," responded the blonde, moving a side to introduce her team. "These are SSA Rossi, SSAs Morgan, Prentiss, and ."

The obviously distraught detective shook hands, "thank you, all of you, for coming."

Morgan ventured a glance at the hostile looks they were receiving for the rest of the precinct, "Well, your colleagues don't look all that happy to see us." Baleman just looked down and said, "They didn't just loose a brother."

"I'd like to get started on all the files," said Reid. "We're gonna build what we call psychological autopsies to determine whether the victims killed themselves."

The detective pointed behind him, "Everything's in those boxes."

As Reid went to look at the evidence, Hotch jumped in "We'd also like to take a look at your brother's house."

The detective nodded "I'll take you there."

"I think it's better if you stay here," said Prentiss.

Bewildered by the answer Baleman retorted, "It's my case. I brought you here."

Morgan lay a hand on the man's shoulders, "Technically, there is no case. If there was, you wouldn't be on it."

"We need to profile the scene without bias," mention Hotch, motioning to Morgan and Rossi to follow him out. On his way out Hotch pulled Emily to the side, "I need an agent to be with her at all times," Emily nodded, "and I need to know that if that agent isn't you, the job will get done."

She didn't like hearing that, she didn't feel comfortable leaving JJ, but she knew that they were there to do a job, and that people's lives depended on it.

"And Prentiss, if you notice anything of concern, take her to the hotel, understood?" he said, making it clear that it wasn't a suggestion.

"Yes Sir, I'll help Reid with the psychological autopsies," said the brunette walking back to where her colleagues and detective Baleman were putting together the evidence board.

After about three hours of work, JJ, Emily and Reid took a much-needed coffee break. Both of the profilers could have kept going, but one look at the blonde woman told them that she was dead on her feet.

"Are you feeling ok?" asked Reid eyeing her for any sign of discomfort. Sitting down in their makeshift conference table the young agent nodded. Emily knew not to push it, she knew JJ wouldn't go to the hotel even if they made her. She was 100% invested in the case, and to be honest so was she. So she decided to comfort herself with the knowledge that at least she was nearby the blonde agent.

Detective Baleman took the last open spot on the table; his somber face brought them back to the reality staring them in the face. There probably was a serial killer loose, in a community that had already gone to hell and back.

"Has your team found anything new?' he asked dejectedly, "we should let the media know."

"I would err on the side of caution," said the media liaison.

The detective stood up defensively, "What? People need to know," he demanded.

"And they will, as soon as we have absolute proof," insisted JJ. Both her and the detective missed the meaningful glance between Emily and Reid. They knew that JJ was tired.

"I think the town's been through enough already, don't you? Also keep in mind that if these cases are related, this unsub's probably already aware that we're onto him," added Reid.

Still not happy with the answer, "But the community needs to know If there's a serial killer in its midst."

JJ could only take so much; she knew she should probably be resting and if they had a lead detective that wasn't so emotionally compromised she probably would've gone to the hotel. This was her last attempt at keeping the peace, "And they will, as soon as we have proof," she said with a little more force.

"Even if the proof means another body?" he said leaving the room.

"You know he's right," mentioned JJ after a while. Her eyes searching comfort in sight of Emily Prentiss sitting across from her.

"He's also personally motivated, though, which means he's likely to react irrationally," responded the young doctor looking at the evidence board.

Starting to feel light headed JJ stood up. Looking back at the two profilers she said, "If this turns out to be the work of a serial killer, the whole town will, too."

She needed to find the restroom, quickly. It was all too much at the moment. She felt like sleeping, she felt like running, she felt like throwing up, all at the same time. Her body was telling her to rest, but her mind wouldn't stop. Unfortunately for the young liaison her need to throw up was overpowering all other urges.

Slamming the door of the bathroom shut, she didn't even bother to lock it, barely making it in time, as her body emptied her stomach.

She sat on the cold tile floor, crying. She felt weak, just like Will had told her. Useless.

"Jen, are you in here?" someone asked, it belong to the person she had learned to depend on. Before a response could form on her lips, two soft hands were pulling her head away from her face. She felt one of those hands rubbing her back. "JayJ, why didn't you tell me you weren't feeling ok?"

She didn't want Emily to think she was weak, "I'm fine Emily," JJ whispered.

Emily wasn't going to let JJ close her off. "C'mon JayJ we've been through too much for you to shut me out," Emily whispered. Using to fingers she tipped JJ's chin. All she needed to see was clearly displayed in those baby blues. "Let's get you to the hotel sweetheart," she said helping the younger woman to her feet.

"Em, I'm fine," JJ pleaded.

"Oh no you're not, lets get you to bed. You'll feel better tomorrow," promised the brunette. Looking down at her watch, "actually JayJ, it is time for all of us to head back to the hotel."

She gently held JJ up and close to her. On her way to the cars Emily didn't stop in their little conference room, she didn't stop to talk to anyone. Just as she closed the passenger side door on the SUV, Hotch and Morgan approached her.

"Is she going to be ok?" asked Hotch, noticing a mass of blonde hair pressed up against the glass of the window.

"I just want to her to the hotel guys, she'll be fine after a good night's sleep," said the brunette walking to the driver's door.

"Princess we're picking up some take out before we head back, either of you want anything?" asked Morgan.

"Sure, thanks Morgan," she said smiling.

The ride to the hotel was a short one, thanking her lucky stars for the GPS. Putting the car in park she stretched her hand and gently ran it over the sleeping woman's arm. "Wake up, we're here Jay," said the brunette pulling her companion awake.

Walking to the front desk, Emily gave the gentleman her last name. He politely informed her that there was no reservation under her name. Cursing the name Penelope Garcia, she asked if there was a reservation under "Jareau."

"Ah there you are! Oh, that's odd your name is here as well, I'm so sorry for the confusion," he said handing her the keys. "And I have a delivery for you as well," he said going to the back room.

Emily started to panic; neither of them had been expecting any deliveries. But she didn't have time to hypothesize about anything, as the young man came back, rather quickly carrying a bouquet of red roses. The note read:

_Found you!_

**_Do you like it so far? R&amp;R_**


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"Ma'am?" inquired the man at the front desk, "aren't you going to take your flowers?"

Emily wanted nothing more than to run up to their room, she didn't want the blonde agent to see the roses. Today had been trying enough. But as luck would have it, just as the words _get rid of them_ were escaping her lips, the agent in question approached the front desk.

"Is everything ok? Seems to be taking a longer than usual," JJ said, her eyes never leaving the brunette.

"Everything is perfect Miss," responded the man, it was then that JJ noticed the very familiar bouquet of red roses. "Are those…" she couldn't finish the sentence, all the confirmation she needed seemed to be spread across Emily's grimacing face.

"Can we go now?" asked the blonde, holding onto the older agent for support. Wordlessly Emily started to guide her towards the elevator. With a quick glance back she instructed for the flowers to be given to Agent Hotchner as soon as he arrived.

"Here, take this Jay," said Emily reaching into her purse and pulling JJ's pain meds out, "It'll help you sleep." JJ wordlessly took the pills. That was her plan tonight, she wanted to sleep, she wanted to forget.

She felt Emily guiding her to a bed, she noticed when Emily started to change her clothes, she was aware that the brunette was helping her lay down, she felt the sheets and blankets being tucked all around her, it was only when she felt warm, soft lips against her own that she snapped out her trance.

Emily seemed to notice this too, "Jen, I need you to talk to me," she whispered caressing the liaison's face.

"What do you want me to say Em? You already know I'm scared," said JJ closing her eyes.

"Do you want me to tell you how worthless I feel, how pathetic? Because that's the only thing I can tell you right now," JJ snapped. As soon as she said those words, she regretted them. She wanted to break down and cry and scream, but she wouldn't, Emily didn't need to see her break again.

"Jennifer, stop it," said the older woman, "stop saying things like that, I know you probably want to cry and scream, Jen, you're safe here. You can break; I'll take care of you. But please sweetheart, never, say you're worthless."

The pain medicine was doing its job, JJ was very sleepy by the time Emily ended her speech. It took a lot of effort to nod her head.

"Lay with me?" asked JJ as she fell asleep.

She didn't get to hear Emily's reply as the brunette climbed in bed next to her, "always."

While the two women slept, a killer took another life. This time he took the life of a young mother.

It were the screams of a small child that alerted his father. The man ran up the stairs at the entrance. The image that greeted him was something off a horror film. He could see his son screaming from his high chair. While the laundry room immediately next to the kitchen held his wife's lifeless body.

"NOOOO," she sat up, sweat pouring down her face, the sheets had tangled around her legs. This is why she hated her pain medication, it kept her asleep longer, it kept her trapped in her nightmares. Her eyes registered two body quickly making their way to her.

"Jen, it was just a nightmare, you're ok," whispered Emily soothingly.

"Emily, where were you?" asked a distraught JJ.

"I was in the other room talking to the team," explained the brunette sharing a concerned look with Hotch.

"JJ, Garcia was able to track the flowers, the order was place from Louisiana, you're safe," Hotch spoke, looking tenderly at the frightened woman. JJ barely acknowledged his voice, choosing to focus on Emily's warm embrace instead.

"Go back to sleep Jen, we'll be right here with you," promised the profiler.

In the other room, Morgan was wearing a whole on the carpet, "that sick bastard, that's the case we should be working on, we are wasting time with these suicides," he said angrily.

"Morgan, we need you clear headed for both of these cases, don't let your friendship with JJ cloud your judgment, this community needs us too," said Rossi.

Morgan wouldn't hear any of it, "My friendship? Rossi? JJ is like a sister to me, and Detective Scumbag messed her up. I am going to kill that man, he's got to come out of hiding at some point, and when he does I'll be waiting," promised the dark man.

"We all will," said Hotch walking back in the room closely followed by Prentiss.

They all lost track of time as they tried to create a profile of an unsub they weren't really sure existed. This is how JJ found them, deep in discussion.

"Guys," she said getting the team's attention, "they've got another death."

Emily was dreading this moment; she knew Hotch would send her to the scene to investigate. She didn't want to leave the younger woman, sometimes her job sucked.

It was already 6am; the only thing that made sense was just to change and head back to the crime scene and the precinct.

"Emily, Morgan, and Rossi, go to the crime scene. Reid, JJ go finish the psychological autopsies," ordered Hotch, making eye contact with Prentiss. She nodded resigned; at least JJ would be in a building filled with cops.

At the crime scene Emily was having a hard time concentrating, a certain blonde filled her mind. Morgan interrupted her thoughts, "You ok?" he asked gently.

"Yeah, I'm good. Lets do this," she said.

"All right, you got a kid," hypothesized Morgan, "There's a bad guy in the house. What do you do to protect your child?"

Without hesitation Prentiss answered, "fight?"

Morgan shook his head, "Not a single defensive wound on her body. Well I don't suppose she climbed up there of her own free will. Unless she committed suicide."

Not buying Emily added, "She's got a baby crying for her in the other room."

Derek walked inside the house, "Father found him in the high chair. Not a scratch."

Rossi joined the conversation, "Remember, the unsub believes he's on some kind of a mission.  
The child is of no importance to him."

Hotch looked at Emily "I'm going to need you and Emily to contact all of the families Affected by the fire and inform them what's going on. They need to be warned immediately," Emily nodded, grateful that she had an excuse to call the liaison.

"Talk to me Baby Girl," Derek spoke on his phone, interrupting Emily's thoughts.

"Hello my fantastic six. Bad news, Crawfish is on the move."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The morning was dragging, no amount of coffee could wake her up completely. Her body was telling her she needed to rest, but her mind was too preoccupied with the case.

She looked down at her phone, 11:48, not a single call had come in to her. She really wanted to call Emily, she missed her, this was the first time in over two weeks the two had been apart.

Reid had noticed her distraction, he had asked her several times throughout the day if she was ok, he asked so many times that she actually began avoiding him. He resorted to discreetly looking out for her. Emily had made him promise to look after her.

He felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, not looking at who it was he picked up.

"Reid? Is JJ with you," asked a very concerned Hotch. The younger agent looked around, noticing for the first time that the blonde in question was nowhere to be found.

"No, she's not, Hotch? What's going on?" asked Reid, mentally kicking himself for not paying better attention.

"We're almost there, find her," responded Hotch.

Reid hung up the phone and took off leaving a very confused Detective Baleman in his wake. He looked all over the precinct, in the conference room, in the bathrooms, in the interrogation rooms, JJ was nowhere to be found. Just as he was walking outside, he saw the rest of his team walking towards him, Emily taking the lead.

She took a look at the flustered agent in front of her, "damn it JJ, where are you?" she murmured to herself.

"Split up, find her," said Hotch getting the phone and calling Garcia. "Garcia, track JJ's phone,' he said not waiting for the analyst to reply before hanging up.

They search the entire perimeter of the precinct, Emily was beginning to feel the tendrils of panic crawling up her spine.

A phone started to ring, "Hotchner," answered the team leader. "Garcia, have you found her?"

"Sir, her phone appears to be in the parking lot of the precinct," answered Penelope, as Hotch hung up on her. He started running to the place the analyst had indicated, the team followed dutifully behind.

"C'mon, spread out and…" he didn't finish the sentence, they saw the blonde leaning against one of the SUVs, having a very heated argument over the phone.

Emily didn't care, she ran to JJ, taking the blonde in her arms, "Jay, don't you ever do that again," blue eyes questioned brown ones, forgetting the phone call, JJ saw a very relieved team standing behind the woman hugging her.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Agent Jareau, you are to be with another agent from now on, understood?" ordered a clearly frustrated Hotch.

JJ could only nod, seeing her unknowing glance Morgan took pity on her and started to explain.

"Garcia called us and told us that LaMontage's credit card had been used in the city about 45 minutes ago, you were nowhere to be found, we thought the worse, I'm going to go call Penelope back, tell her that we found," he said walking back to the precinct.

"JJ, I think it's be better if you stayed inside for now," said Rossi, putting a gentle hand on the younger woman's shoulders.

Hotch smiled apologetically at her and made his way back inside with Reid trailing behind.

"Who was that Jen? You seemed pretty upset," asked Emily walking them closer to the building.

"Oh, it was a reported trying to get more information, I wouldn't budge and he wouldn't back off," said JJ starting to feel a little panicky herself at the thought of Will being in town.

Once inside the discussion turned back to the case at hand, the profilers had subconsciously put JJ in between all of them.

"Ok, what have we got?" asked Hotch.

Morgan jumped in, "So she couldn't cope. She snapped. It happens. It happens every day," he said taking a swig of his coffee.

"No, not here it didn't," interjected Emily.

The darker agent still didn't agree, "Emily Right now that's exactly what happened," he retorted.

"Paul Baleman's house, that's what you'd expect from someone who was deeply depressed, deeply traumatized," added Rossi.

"Yeah, I know. I saw it," answered Morgan, knowing once again that this wasn't a battle he was going to win.

"Everything past orderly, everything present disorderly. The bookshelf, the glass cabinet All had order when their lives had order, had meaning. Everything about Beth's home says she moved on," said Reid, looking intently at the images on the evidence board.

Morgan got up from his chair and started to pace, "Then how did she get up there without a fight?" he asked.

"Maybe she was dead already," said JJ.

Something felt wrong about all this, Rossi just couldn't put his finger on it, "dead weight is a lot heavier than alive," he contemplated.

Emily started talking, mostly to herself, unaware that the entire team was hanging off her every word, "Um Ok, well She can't believe he's gonna spare the baby If she does what she's told. The question is, how did he get in? Beth must have let him in. I mean, she had to. They all let him in. So she fixes them drinks, he drugs her. That's gotta be it."

She didn't wait for a response, she was onto something here, and when in doubt her motto was: call the Oracle of Quantico.

"Emily, the strange and great, what can i do you for?" asked Garcia.

"Hey, uh, I'm looking for a drug that would temporarily paralyze or subdue someone, Not kill them, but give full control," Emily asked in a serious tone.

Garcia tried to crack a joke to break the tension, "Well, I always use alcohol. Less fuss, way cheaper."

Ignoring the analyst Emily kept going, "Um, uh, look for something that wouldn't show up in a toxicology report."

"Ok got it," said Garcia, typing way faster than any human should.

Just as she was hanging up her phone, Detective Baleman joined them, "Anything to tell us whether these are suicides or not?" he asked, taking a look at the many evidence bags holding letters that scattered the main table.

Reid followed the Detective's glance, "These are some samples from Diedre Nollard, the jumper," he said holding a evidence bag, "See, we have an insurance form, A letter she wrote to her neighbor a month ago, A birthday card she wrote to her husband a week ago, and her suicide note as found on her body," said the doctor.

"Suicide note matches, right?" asked the detective.

"Definitely by her own hand, But she's professing regret. Look," said Reid, showing his team the letter. "Uh, I'm sorry I let you down. Please forgive me. I disappointed you.' And so on," he continued, "But the handwriting, the forensic analysis is saying the exact opposite."

"What do you mean?" asked JJ getting closer to examine the letter herself.

"Um well, you see how the handwriting slants uphill? It's a clear sign of optimism. The same with how the spacing is so consistent. And these long T-bars, those indicate an enthusiastic person.

Not someone who would take a swan dive off a 5-Story walkup," concluded Reid.

"Now we have the proof that these aren't suicides. Those notes, were they coerced?" asked the detective.

"If you were to force someone to write their own suicide note, these are words you generally wouldn't use," responded Morgan.

"I'll take that as a no," concluded the detective, "And my brother's journal?"

"I haven't its extensive, I haven't…" Reid started to say.

"Another no," interrupted the detective, "Can we inform the media now?" he asked.

"I have," confirmed the media liaison.

"Agent Jareau?" asked a young policeman, "I have I call for you, a detective from New Orleans, I told him you were in a meeting, he's been on hold for the last fifteen minutes," said the man clearly embarrassed he had interrupted them.

"I'll take the call," said Morgan, walking to the phone.

It was blatantly clear that the mood had changed, the profilers had all tensed up, the young media liaison had gotten up and was now pacing back and forth.

"Hello Detective," said Morgan, his voice full of venom.

"Would you pass a message along to my Cher?" he asked, "tell her I've got a surprise for her," said the southern detective. The phone went dead before Morgan had chance to reply.

"Guy's we have a problem," said Morgan, looking at the ground.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Compartmentalization was the key. Of course JJ had been threatened and all of them wanted nothing more than to fly out to Louisiana or where ever Will happened to be and arrest him, but they also knew that they had a serial killer on the loose and they had to catch him before anybody else fell victim to him.

Hotch could sense the team looking at him for direction, he could sense Detective Baleman's confusion and frustration, but what he could sense the strongest was JJ fear. This fear seemed to roll of in waves from the young liaison.

His job was to keep his team safe and focused, and he wasn't doing a very good job. All of that was about to change.

"I need you all outside," he said to his team, "Detective Baleman, please meet us put there in ten minutes."

Once the six of them made it outside Hotchner, turned to them. "I know things aren't easy right now," he said hesitating, "JJ, I promise you we will take care of Will, but are no good when we aren't focused. It isn't fair to this community and it isn't fair to you."

Running his hand over his face he continued, "right now LaMontage isn't an immediate threat," he said, putting his hand up to interrupt Morgan before he could even begin, "right now and for as long as it takes us to crack this case our focus has to be here."

"Jennifer," he looked at her, "you are to be in the presence on another member of this team at all times. Please, your safety is one of our main priorities and if we know you're ok, we can concentrate on solving this case quicker."

"I'm sorry guys," said JJ taking a step away from the team.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," said Rossi, "it's that bastard that'll be sorry."

Emily took a step closer to the blonde woman, "I won't let him hurt you Jay," she whispered to the blonde.

"No Emily," interrupted Hotch, "WE won't let him hurt you JJ"

"Now, I'll have Garcia trying to figure out what's happening in DC, if Will has something planned we will find out," he finished.

Somewhat appeased the team switched gears. At the same time Detective Baleman joined them.

"What have we got?" asked the lead agent.

"Including extended families, over 100 individuals within the Pittsburgh area were affected by that fire," answered Prentiss.

"So this unsub is targeting grief," concluded Hotch

"Grief?" asked Baleman.

Hotch needed to clarify, "An event."

Not far behind Rossi added, "A single event in this unsub's life led him to end the life of someone he believes had to die."

"From that moment on, he created his own sense of morality what is right and what is wrong and he rationalizes what he did, that first kill over and over again, by targeting people that he believes can't be saved by anyone other than himself.  
He decides who lives and who dies, and this gives him an all-consuming sense of power," Rossi concluded.

"So they're not gonna stop anytime soon," asked Baleman.

"Well, that's assuming there's someone to actually stop. And if there is, he's convinced he's on a mission of mercy, and even after he's caught, he'll maintain he did nothing wrong," added Morgan, believing, for the first time that there might be an unsub.

"He?" asked the detective.

Without missing a beat Rossi replied, "White male, mid to late 30s, he's polite, forthcoming, Doesn't stand out."

"And we believe his victims, these families, Are all letting him in," added Prentiss.

Baleman shook his head as if he didn't understand something, "My brother and his wife weren't letting anyone in. If anything, they were closing themselves off."

Hotch hated when law enforcement was personally involved, "Well, this unsub has found a way in, One that's very hard to trace," he said to the detective.

Reid cut in, "In every case there was no evidence of a struggle, No attempt at escapes. He finds a personal connection and uses it to buy time."

"And my officers need to know this," affirmed Baleman.

Trying to find a delicate way of saying what he was about to say Hotch stuck his hands in his pockets, making eye contact with the detective he continued, "We've found that angels of mercy are often people in the medical profession, cops, as well as law enforcement." he said leaving a tense silence after his words.

"Which is why we're meeting out here," added JJ.

Knowing how this information could affect the law enforcement family of Pittsburg Morgan said quickly, "Now, we're only fishing. We don't want to point a finger."

"Point it," demanded the detective, "I don't give a damn."

"If that's what it's about," Hotch began, "Let us figure out where to point it."

After being lost in thought for the last few minutes, Reid added, "I asked Garcia to check into emergency responders around the scene of the fire."  
"Good," commented the leader, seeing that Emily was about to say something, "Prentiss?" he inquired. "

He's smart. He knows all about these people's schedules, their routines," she mentioned.

Morgan still not completely sold on the idea said "Look, if this unsub does exist, this is a guy who's all about control. He chooses how they die, when they die.  
He even positions them exactly how he wants them to die. That makes him hypervigilant, A guy who's always on the lookout, risk averse, unseen."

Surprising everyone JJ concluded, "The only way to stop him Is to find out how he's managed to get into all of his victims' lives. We find that out, we've got our killer."

Hotch confirmed what JJ was sayong with a nod, "we can start bringing people in, find the connection," he ordered

_Wonderful,_ though JJ. _I can barely hold myself together_. It was then that she felt a soft hand slip in hers. She didn't have to look to know it was Emily. That simple gestured gave her the confidence and energy needed for this task.

Together they all began to walk back inside silently. It was Emily's voice that stopped her on her tracks.

"I am here for you Jennifer, when you are ready I'll be there for you."

She brought the older woman's hand to her lips and kissed it. That gesture was enough to convey her gratitude. With Emily next to her she could do anything,

**Should I keep going? Please R&amp;R!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: I don't own Criminal Minds! Just a little reference for the dialogue and timeline. Season 3 episode 14. I used much of the same dialogue, adjusting the speaker to fit the needs of the story! Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 15

The last few hours had consisted of endless interviews with distraught families. JJ was grateful that at least the had been partnered with Emily. Accepting the coffee the brunette gave she turned to the job at hand.

"Thank you for coming," she said for what felt like the hundredth time.

For this interview they had a young couple sitting in front of them, the mother looked up, unshed tears filling her eyes. JJ leaned over her, closer to the hurting woman and took her hands in hers. "We're so sorry about the loss of your son," whispered the blonde agent. It didn't matter how many times she did these interviews, it never got easier, it never got easier to pick at the lives of the families. Sensing JJ's discomfort, Emily picked up where the blonde left off.

"I'm sure you know about the suicides that have occurred in Shadyside over the past 2 months," she mention, the only acknowledgement she received were nods.

Hearing her partner JJ was pulled away from her internal turmoil. She took a chance and looked up at the distraught face of the father. There was no point in sugar coating anything with these families, it didn't matter how or what she said, no one was going to take it well.

"We believe there's a serial killer who is making it appear as though his victims were committing suicide," she said slowly, trying to gauge their reactions.

"Oh, my god," said the man, clearly horrified at the thought.

"And he's targeting people that were affected by the fire," added JJ.

"Wh-What do you mean? I mean, why would someone do that?" asked the mother.

"He believes he's an angel of mercy, that he's actually helping his victims move on," mentioned the brunette agent, moving closer to JJ.

The couple seemed to think for a while before the father asked, "do you, uh, believe we may know this person?"

This thought seemed to upset, Emily racked her brain trying to find a delicate way to answer his question, there was none, she just had to say it, "Yes, we do."

After the couple left JJ and Emily had about twenty minutes before their last interview of the day showed up. "Jen, I can do this last one, why don't you take a break?" asked the brunette, immediately regretting it. JJ looked up at her with nothing but hurt all over her face.

"I can't let him take this away from me, I need to finish this," said the blonde walking away from Emily. "Will took a lot from me, I can't let him take my job, what I'm good at. You're probably right Emily, you now. I am exhausted in more than one way, my body is throbbing, I'm in a constant state of fear," she paused when she felt Emily's hand on her arm, "my life got turned upside down, I don't even know if I can trust myself, but Emily, even though these interviews are grueling, I finally feel like my old self." She turned around to look at the taller agent, "please don't make me give that up."

"Aright Jay, listen to what your body is telling you," she pulled the younger woman closer, "we'll get through this sweetheart, you'll be ok," promised Emily.

Morgan knocking on the door interrupted the tender moment. They quickly separated, JJ discreetly wiped her eyes.

"Guys Mr. and Mrs. Morris are here," he said, scanning both women before bringing in the last family.

"Thanks Derek, could you ask them to come in?" asked Emily.

Almost an hour had gone by, this last family seemed to be very overwhelmed by all the information.

"We just buried our daughter," said the mother looking away from where her husband sat holding her son.

"Yes, we know," said JJ empathetically.

"Whatever his motivations are, it's crucial we look into every part of your life," added Emily, hating that it had to be them that had pick apart the lives of this already broken family.

The mother scoffed, "Oh, like he's done or is doing, right?" she mumbled.

Emily had to keep in mind that the little pain the FBI inflicted would be worth it if they caught the killer. The brunette agent plowed on, "Um, can you think of anyone who might want…"

The clearly upset woman interrupted her, "Might want to kill us?"

Setting a wiggly toddler on his hip and trying to make eye contact with his wife, the husband told her, "They're just doing their job."

"He's a white male, mid-30s,' added JJ trying to bring the conversation back to topic.

"He comes across as very concerned, Friendly, charming," Emily continued.

"No," declared the wife, "I'm sorry."

The husband stood up, making it clear that the interview was over. Right as the family was walking out Emily approached Mr. Morris. "If you need our help," she said handing him her card, "For anything."

"Thank you," he replied closing the door behind him.

"Did you see her with her son?" Emily asked the liaison.

"What?" ask JJ clearly lost in her thoughts again.

Emily put a comforting arm around the blonde, anchoring her, "She couldn't hold him. She couldn't look at him," she said.

Both women stayed in that interrogation room much longer than necessary, completely oblivious to the rest of team, to the rest of the world.

In the conference room, things were much different. The men of the team sat hypothesizing, their thoughts interrupted by Morgan's cell phone.

"Go ahead, hot stuff, talk to me," said Morgan grinning at his phone.

"Hey, so, Prentiss was looking for some narcotics, my burning love hunk," she said, "And I scored humongously."

They could hear the analyst typing away on the other end, but ever the multitasker, Penelope continued, "I ran every toxicological panel known to man on the victims And came up with zilch," she paused, "which means he must be knocking them out With a neuromuscular agent."

"With a what?" Morgan asked.

"A paralytic," Rossi clarified.

Unimpressed Garcia said, "Yeah, yeah. Something like succinylcholine or vecuromium, one of those ones that would metabolize in the body so quickly, it wouldn't be detectable."

Not stopping to even take a breath "Plus, plus, also, and I called me up Mr.  
Coroner And said, how would you do this? And he says, by injection.  
So I say, hey, guy, wouldn't that leave a mark? And he's all, 'hold up,' and then he goes and looks at Beth Smoler's body and finds the mark," she said smugly, "A hole, right in her hairline."

"Ok, so you have to be in the medical profession to get a hold of those drugs, right?" asked Morgan

"Not necessarily," replied Garcia, "You can get almost anything online these days."

"This drug leaves no trace?" asked Rossi.

"None," declared the analyst.

"Even if a coroner was looking for something the evidence was gone," concluded Rossi "Beth Smoler didn't see anything coming."

"No, sir," interrupted Garcia, "She completely saw it coming. They all saw it coming.  
Neuromuscular blockers paralyze the muscles temporarily while you remain very much awake."

Rossi was definitely troubled by the news, "He sedates them, then quickly engineers their suicide.

"Well, if that's true, it means this unsub's not looking for the glory of the kill," said the dark agent.

Wanting to put some distance between him and the other profiler, Rossi took a few steps back, "no, but unfortunately for his victims, They're wide awake when he decides it's time for them to move on."

JJ came running into the room, the physical exertion clearly taking a toll on her weak body.

"Where's the fire Blondie?" asked Morgan with a chuckle.

JJ shook her head, "there's another body."

Hotch stood up, "let's go to the crime scene," he looked at the media liaison, "all of us."

Emily took the opportunity to sit next to JJ in the SUV. She scanned the blonde next to her for any sign of discomfort. Seeing the protective hand JJ had over the Kevlar covering her rib cage, gave her an idea of where the pain was located. She immediately placed her own hand over JJ's, blue eyes looked up at brown, "thank you," smiled the younger agent.

Squeezing her hand, Emily leaned over to quickly kiss her cheek, "anytime Jen, anytime."

The team got to the crime scene; each member had predetermined tasks they had to accomplish. As soon as they entered the home, they split off, working like a well-oiled machine.

Morgan went straight for the body; male, mid 40's, very obvious self inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Rossi was just a few steps behind him. Morgan bent over the body trying to get a closer look, the coroner not far away.

"The barrel was placed right there," said the corner pointing to the dead man, "under the chin, he shoots, and the bullet went up through the small and hard palate of his mouth, and then it exited out through his—Cranium," he finished pointing a pen to the exit wound.

"Check the back of his head, his hairline," told Hotch entering the room.

"There," said the man, "See it? Oh, a puncture wound," he indicated, "made by a Needle."

"Did he leave a note?" asked Morgan. A crime scene tech handed him a evidence bag with said note in it.

Morgan was finally 100% convinced, he actually felt a little guilty for doubting this case. With a resigned sigh he stepped away from the body, "all right, Rossi, I'm in," he said, "We got ourselves an unsub."

With that statement Hotch ordered his team back to the station. He knew they were all very stressed out, but he could also feel that they were finally on to something, he knew that it was just a matter of time before they cracked the case. _One more sleepless night, _he thought. Immediately he regretted the thought as he looked at the two women in his team. They were exiting the crime scene; Emily with an arm wrapped around JJ's shoulders. Jennifer Jareau, she deserved her own compartment in his mind, at least she had earned one in the last few weeks. She looked exhausted. He briefly considered going to the hotel, but that thought disappeared very quickly.

They couldn't sacrifice the well being of this community, JJ would just have to crash at the station.

**R&amp;R**


	16. Chapter 16

**R&amp;R**

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

Twelve hours later the case was solved, not wanting to stay a second more the team boarded the jet thirty minutes after that.

"Get some rest," Hotch said to the rest of the team, "JJ, can I speak to you?"

The blonde in question hesitated for a moment, then took the seat in front of the older man.

"We need to talk about certain arrangements that are going to be put in place in DC," he began. "Garcia has been searching for any type of paper trail on Will. The lead we got back in Pennsylvania was a hoax."

"What do you mean?" asked JJ.

"It was a false lead, he was never there," Hotch continued, extremely aware of Emily's eyes on him.

"But the same can't be said for DC," he paused and took her hand, "Garcia has caught sight of him on numerous surveillance cameras around the city."

JJ wanted nothing more than to cry, she felt so lost, "Hotch, he's going to find me," she said in a broken whisper.

"Agent Jareau," he said with some force, "he will not come near you, even if he did you'll not be alone," his tried to sooth her.

"As far as living arrangements go, you'll stay with Agent Prentiss, I've placed a full security detail at that location, you'll have two officers there at any given time," he made eye contact with the brunette who was staring at him.

"Several people have showed concern for your health during this last case but I also know you have been cleared to come back to work. Normally I would ask you to take another week, but unfortunately we don't have that luxury. There is one thing I can do," he hesitated, "I can assign you to desk duty for a while," he said avoiding her frustrated baby blues.

"Hotch I'm fine," she protested weakly.

"Jennifer, you're not fine, and honestly nobody expects you to be fine after this. Please understand that we all care about you, at least to me we're all family. It hurts us to see you hurt, and right now you're in pain, in more ways than one," Hotch said leaning closer to the media liaison.

That statement took her by surprise, especially coming from Hotch. Knowing that there really wasn't a point in arguing she accepted,"Thank you, you are family," she said.

"Get some rest Jennifer, we'll figure all this out," he replied letting go of her hands and motioning to go to Emily.

Sleep came easy after that; the sheer exhaustion of the last few days was finally catching up, guaranteeing her a dreamless nap. She let the warmth of the brunette's shoulder lull her to sleep.

Emily, on the other hand, didn't sleep at all. Her mind was racing; she couldn't stop thinking about JJ, about Will, about her feelings for the blonde sleeping next to her. This was one of the times the famous Prentiss compartmentalization was failing her.

Normally she would take advantage of the solitude of her condo to pick away at her compartments and deal with them alone, but she hadn't had the opportunity, for the last three weeks her only focus had been JJ. There was no doubt she wanted to kill the man for laying a finger on the media liaison, but it was more than that.

She tried to imagine Garcia in JJ's place; would she have been so easy to say 'I love you' to? Would she have kissed her?

Her mind was giving her the answer before she could fully process the questions. No she wouldn't have, it was JJ that made it different.

Now that she had the next hour or so to rationalize she, couldn't understand why she had done the things she had. Had she taken advantage of the hurting woman?

Neither of them had talked about what had been happening between them. What if JJ regretted it later? And if they had been the best friends she thought they had, how could she have missed the fact that the blonde liked women?

There were too many questions and very few answers. The tendrils of a migraine started working its way to her head. She was so lost in her thoughts that she had missed Morgan taking a sit in front of her, she only reacted to his presence when he slipped a cool glass of liquid courage in her hands.

"Princess, stop thinking whatever it is that your thinking," he said gently, a clear warning in his voice.

Amazed at the fact he could read her so well, her thoughts went back to the memo JJ had sent three months ago about interteam profiling, a dry chuckle escaped her lips. This is what they did; they couldn't help but to profile each other.

"Oh tell me then Morgan, what am I thinking about," she replied sarcastically.

"I don't know Emily, but what I can tell you is that it takes to people to build a relationship. You both have a lot to talk about, but if you put up those walls now, how do expect JJ to get through," taking a swig of his own drink he continue, "you're good for each other, "I saw it coming, Emily, I knew it was a matter of time. Both of you are good at hiding your feelings, keeping your personal lives from mixing with work, but then you have to remember where you work. Surrounded by profilers, maybe you could've kept up the facade to the untrained eye, but doll face, I knew you liked her from the minute you met her."

"Oh yeah? Didn't think to give a clue," she snorted.

"Somethings you've got to figure out on your own," he said standing up, "give it a chance Princess, you both deserve to be happy."

"Not everything has an answer Emily, especially when you're dealing with matters of the heart. Just so you know, you're both safe here, we've all got your back, but Prentiss if you hurt her, I don't know how much more she can take."

With those last words he walked back to his previous seat, leaving the brunette with more questions than before. But at least she had an open mind now. Leaning over to press a kiss on the blonde's forehead she murmured to herself, _"who knew you were such a softy Derek Morgan."_

**_R&amp;R!_**


	17. Chapter 17

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 17**

It was barely 7am when the team returned and it wasn't by choice that they'd gather back at the BAU.

"I swear if we have another case I'm quitting," said Derek Morgan putting his go-bag on his desk.

"My sweets, you're back!" announced Garcia, motioning them to go into the conference room. She welcomed them with a table full of files and six to go cups full of coffee.

Hotch said something to Garcia before following his team and taking a seat at said table.

"Well, my league of super heroes," started the flamboyant analyst, "let me start by saying that you don't have another 'official' case."

"Baby Girl, can't this wait till tomorrow then? Or at least this afternoon?" asked Morgan, any playfulness was extinguished as soon as he saw the glare on the normally happy woman.

"Operation 'Detective Crawfish,' can't wait my chocolate God," she said.

JJ's head snapped up, suddenly any sign of tiredness was gone leaving her with a not in her throat and her stomach full of tension. "What do you mean Garcia," asked the young agent, "you got something on him?"

"The question Sunshine, should be, what I didn't get on him," she replied, "Detective William LaMontage has a rather extensive track record, considering he's supposed to be one of the good guys."

"Garcia, can we move along?" asked the team leader.

"Oh yeah, I mean yes sir," she corrected.

"All of you should have a file with every I could get on him. Let's start at the top: one William LaMontage, age sixteen was sentenced to Juvenile Detention in New Orleans, Louisiana."

"As a minor? His records must be sealed then," stated Dr Reid.

"Oh Junior G Man you underestimate my powers, but to answer your question, yes his records were sealed," said the analyst.

"Were?" asked Rossi, shaking his head in amazement.

"Little technicalities, I am not admitting anything in a room full of FBI agents. Any who, let me just say that our Detective was not the typical southern gentleman," she digressed, "the point is that he was accused of raping a woman, the charges didn't stick and he was sentenced to six months."

Emily immediately reached for JJ's hand, thanking who ever was up there for sparing the young blonde of a similar fate.

Garcia paused for a moment letting the team digest this new information. "He also has enough warnings to have his career cut short, but for some odd reason he still is part of the New Orleans PD," she said turning the page of the file she was holding.

"Warnings? Do we know what they were for?" asked Emily.

"Yes we do Sugar Plum, he seemed to have a knack for getting a little too violent with suspects, especially the female suspects," said Garcia, pulling up the pictures of ten severely beaten women up on the large screen.

"That son of a bitch," whispered Morgan looking at the almost identical bruise patterns on the women's faces, "he only got off with a few warnings?"

"His dad was part of the force back then," said JJ.

"Ok so his old man covered for him," stated Rossi, "there's still too much evidence against him, even with his father there he should've received some sort of disciplinary action."

"He did sir," replied Garcia, "he was sent to intensive anger management therapy."

"Hold on, intensive? What the hell does that mean?" asked Morgan.

"Exactly one, six hour session with an Anna Farrar, who also happens to be LaMontage's cousin," stated the analyst, clearly angry about the punishment.

"There are other offence ranging from beatings, supposed rapes and even two women claimed he was stalking them. He currently has five restraining orders against him, three of those are from past relationships, the other two are from former female officers," Garcia said as she handed them all more papers.

"I've been looking into how he might be getting information about my Angle, so I did a search for extended family working in law enforcement agencies, and suddenly I had a list of twelve of Crawfish's relatives working in various departments," concluded Penelope.

"Any of those happen to work in the FBI?" asked Reid.

"Way ahead of you boy genius, there is an uncle working in counter terrorism and a half brother that is a technical analyst for the organized crime division," she continued pulling up the pictures of the two men on the large screen, "Bob Watt is the first and, listen to this name, I bet his parents didn't win any creativity award, John smith."

Hotch closed the file he had been reading, looking up for the first he said, "Great work Garcia."

"Boss man I'm not done, and if I don't get a gold star on my door for this I'll be seriously offended," she said taking a swig of her own coffee, "I placed tracker on their systems, the second either of them as much as types BAU in their Google search bar, I'll know about it," concluded the over exuberant woman.

Emily made a mental note to get the analyst a gold star. They had a lead, finally. Turning her head to look at the blonde woman next to her, she saw that JJ had tears streaming down her face. She wasn't the only that saw them because before she could utter a word Morgan was at JJ's side.

"We'll get it JayJe, and he'll rot in jail for what he did to you and to all those other women," he promised. He knew the entire team would work around the clock to protect her. Knowing that every single person in that conference room had silently made that same promise.

**R&amp;R**


	18. Chapter 18

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**AN: WARNING: Just changed the rating to M! **

**Chapter 18**

"It's only a matter of time Cher," he said to himself.

Looking down at the coffee table he saw the bloody stains, taking a swig of his beer he laughed at nothing in particular. Taking a couple steps closer to the door, he grinned thinking about the little gift he had left behind.

John had called him earlier to tell him that the team had left for a case in Pennsylvania.

"Stupid," he said out loud, would they really think a different doorknob would keep him away.

She hadn't been back to her place in almost three weeks but he knew she'd eventually have to come back. The first time he had walked inside the apartment he noticed that her closet had been emptied, he fridge cleaned out.

Taking advantage of the vacated space he lost no time setting up his own version of hell. His initial thought was to wait for her, wait as long as necessary, track her moves, taunt her, but he quickly figured out that it wasn't enough. If he was going to make the bitch pay he had to take her somewhere they would never find her. Oh and when he was done with her there would be nothing left to find. But in the mean time, what was the harm in a little fun.

He was a man after all, a hot blooded man with needs of his own, if his little blonde wouldn't provide he'd have to go looking else where. Unfortunately with this last one he had gotten a little carried away, it wasn't his fault she looked so much like his own JJ.

He was just taking care of his carnal needs when he caught sight of the crying girl below him; she'd been so pretty and perfect just like his Jennifer. He hadn't meant to do what he had done, he only wanted to quiet the girl's cries, but as soon as his fist made contact with the tender flesh he couldn't stop, and if he really thought about it he didn't want to stop. He hit her until she went silent. Coming down from the adrenaline induced high he saw the product of his little escapade, the girl was dead. That right there was a feeling he could get used to.

JJ didn't know what she had coming, he wanted her underneath him, crying out in pain, he wanted her dead.

If she didn't want him then she didn't deserve to breathe. Who the hell did she think she was to say no to him?

Quietly closing the door to the apartment he made his way out through the fire exit of the building. Calmly he walked to a little deli a couple blocks away, and it wasn't until he had finished his sandwich that he approached a pay phone and dialed 911.

Hanging up he walked away and disappeared, blending seamlessly into the crowds of people. What he had done meant he had to lay low for a while but it also cemented the fact that he thought they couldn't catch him. He was smarter than the entire BAU, than the entire FBI.

He knew with out a doubt that they had probably found his source at the FBI, his brother John was of no use to him now, but it didn't matter anymore. He was going back to Louisiana knowing that the team would come to him.

Many hours later he sat in a New Orleans house, waiting, planning. He had time, plenty of time as he never mentioned where he had left the body. He just told the 911 operator that there was a body to find.

Little beads of perspiration formed on his skin, reminding him that he was home. He'd missed the hot, humid air of New Orleans.

Unbeknownst to the Detective, Jennifer Jareau had a guardian angel by the name of Penelope Garcia, the Oracle of Quantico.

She had sent the team home just six hours ago with strict orders to get some rest. Meanwhile she'd stayed at the office trying to dig up anything else on one William LaMontage. Her fingers stopped their incessant typing as her laird came alive with alarms. She had a hit on said man; he'd just used his credit card at a liquor store. The bourbon he was been drinking had just given away his location.

"Boys and girls," the analyst said to herself, "we have a case."

**AN: things are about to get ugly! R&amp;R!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

JJ's only mission at the moment was to get in bed and sleep through the next week. It appeared that brunette had the same idea as they wordlessly crawled under the covers together and fell into a blissful slumber.

It was many hours later that the brunette stirred, she smiled tenderly at the younger agent in her arms. Looking out her window she noticed that it was already nighttime, and even if she wanted to she could fall asleep again. Her thoughts were going a million miles per hours, _I need a drink_, she thought to herself disentangling herself from JJ.

Her bare feet made no sound as she walked to the kitchen, pulling out a wine glass she poured herself some of her "special occasion" wine. She let herself get lost as the flavors of the crimson liquid hit her taste buds, smoky and sweet with that distinct smoothness at the end.

The young woman, had broken through her walls, and now she was left with a mess of emotions and feelings she really didn't want to deal with. But she had to. She would make herself deal with it. JJ deserved that, she deserved that.

Tonight would be the night they'd have the talk, she was done ignoring the elephant in the room. Both of them needed answers.

Needing something to do she started on dinner. It wasn't too much later that she realized that she had nothing to cook with except the three-month-old box of mac and cheese sitting in her pantry.

_I'm going to tell her how I feel,_ she as she filled a pot with water. The rather strong noises of the water hitting the metal bottom of the pot somehow encouraged her to continue her mental speech.

_Does she regret this?_ She started to question placing the pot on the stove, _maybe I was just an easy way out._ She didn't want to be a rebound. She wanted something more, a future, a promise, something more that just the uncertainty she was dealing with.

Her mind wandered back to Morgan and the conversation they'd had in the plane not even 24 hours ago, _it feels longer, was it really just yesterday?_

She stared at the water willing it to boil quicker_, he's right, it does take two people to build a relationship, _and whatever it was that her and JJ had sure felt like one. Feeling mocked by the barely simmering water she broke her stare off and went to open the bright box of noodles.

_ I need to know what she's thinking, _she said in her head, pausing in frustration. Guilt started to creep in, _but if she doesn't feel the same way I'll still be here to support her, to love her,_ irritated with herself she took another sip of her wine. Cursing at her nasty habit of biting her nails she took out a knife to open the box.

Unceremoniously she dumped the noodles in the now boiling water, along with them went her confidence. _Maybe I shouldn't say anything, she's not ready for this right now, _she thought. _C'mon Emily the woman was just viciously assaulted, she doesn't need your verbal on slaughter. _But Emily needed confirmation, she needed assurance, she needed security. The older agent needed to know whether her walls had to come back up.

With a trained eye on the clock she waited the noodles cooked with only the random slur and spat of the water as her companion. _If this is going to work, we need to do things right. _It wasn't about the romance and flirting, it was about knowing that she was wanted and loved. _Senator Prentiss is going to be so disappointed when she finds out her daughter is gay, _she chuckled slightly, sobering almost immediately, _am I gay? _Knowing that if loving Jennifer Jareau meant she was gay, she'd be ok with it.

The flavor of the wine once again invaded her mouth, closing her eyes and enjoying the experience, her thoughts wonder a different direction, _I wonder what she tastes like. _Wine almost came spraying out of her mouth, _what the hell Emily? _She could confidently say that this was the first time she had thought about a woman this way. The shock was almost funny.

Trying to get her mind out of the gutter she busied her sell draining the water from the cooked noodles. After checking and rechecking the instructions on the box she went to pull the milk and butter from the fridge. She took a tentative sniff at the jug of milk, expecting to find a sour smell she was pleasantly surprised and relief at the fact that her milk hadn't gone sour.

Within a few minutes she had a pot of delicious mac and cheese ready. _Should I light some candles to set the mood? Maybe some music? _Laughing at herself she shot down both ideas. She had been taught at a young age that getting her hopes up would always come back to hurt her.

"Em?" called a voice from the living room.

Her internal monologue came to an abrupt stop, downing the last bit of alcohol in her glass she replied, "I'm in the kitchen Jay." _It was now or never, _she thought to herself, almost all her worries disappeared at the sight of the still sleepy blonde walked in the kitchen. This was JJ, the same woman that made her coffee, the same woman she had spent countless nights laughing with, the same woman she trusted so completely she had let her break down her walls. Jennifer Jareau was the one person in the world that knew her better than she knew herself.

With an easy smile and a second glass full of wine she said, "I made dinner," turning back to look at her master piece of mac and cheese, "there's something I been meaning to talk to you about."

JJ's eyes sparkled when she saw Emily's cheesy creation, "sounds good Em, do you need help with anything," she said accepting the glass of wine.

"Just sit and eat," said the older woman, noticing how JJ's fingers had lingered on hers for a little bit longer that was appropriate for just two friends, _point one for me! Either that or I'm loosing my mind. _Thought Emily laughing softly. JJ just looked at her oddly trying to figure out what the older woman was thinking.

_How do you ask your best friend if she's your girlfriend? _Food soon started to disappear quickly, neither of the aware of how hungry they had been. Finishing up her second glass of wine Emily knew it was time to take the plunge.

"Jen, I need to ask you something, but I need you to let me finish before you say anything," feeling the need to put some distance for this part she stood up and started taking the empty dishes to the sink.

"Did something happen Emily?" asked the blonde with a clear panic in her voice.

Leaving the dishes to the sink, she quickly walked to JJ and took her hands, "no, no Jay, nothing like that," she whispered.

"Nothing like that at all," she said.

"With all that has happened, certain things have started to become very clear to me, or maybe a few lines started to blur, depends on how you look at it," the brunette agent rambled.

"What are we doing Jen? What do we have?" she asked making eye contact, "I know I love you," she swallowed loudly, "and not the in a friend way."

"I know I want to kiss you," she paused, "all the time."

"I can tell you that I want to castrate Will for what he did, not that I wouldn't have before, but my mind has been getting very creative with his torture," she tried to joke.

"I know I don't want to sleep alone ever again, and I want the person sleeping next to me to be you," continued the taller woman, never looking away from those blue eyes she had come to love.

"And you know I just spent the last hour questioning my sexuality, but if it means I get to be with you, then I guess I'm gay. Well I think I just came out to you, and this was not how I was hoping the conversation would go, I understand if you don't want to talk to me again, but I just had to tell you and I couldn't wait any more. Oh and I hope I'm not just a rebound, but then, I thought that maybe I took advantage of you, God Jennifer; I'm not even making sense now. I promise you it sounded a lot better in my head. Now I'm just being embarrassing, feel free to stop me anytime…" rambled the clearly flustered agent. She would've kept going, but her words came to a sudden stop when she felt two soft fingers on her lips.

"Emily relax, to answer your first question," said the younger woman pulling her fingers away, "right now we are talking. To answer your second question, I hope we can have something together," the brunette's eyes opened wide not believing what she was hearing; ignoring her JJ kept going.

"I love you too Em," she smiled, "not the friend kind of love."

"And I want to kiss you," she said taking the older agent's hands, "all the time!"

"I don't want sleep without you either and you are not a rebound, Em. You didn't take advantage, and you make perfect sense to me," said JJ, enunciating every word.

Emily couldn't wait anymore; she slowly started to bring her lips closer to the blonde's giving JJ more than one opportunity to pull back. When their lips met it was exactly everything they each been dreaming about. Yeah they had kissed before but those kisses were meant to comfort, to reassure, this kiss held a promise. Pulling away much too soon, their moment was interrupted by Emily's cell phone. They both looked down at the caller ID: Hotch.

"Emily, there's been a development," he paused, "a body was found."

**R&amp;R !**


	20. Chapter 20

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 20**

She couldn't believe what she was seeing, a full team of crime scene techs in her apartment, the coroner in her bedroom. It was all too much, suddenly; she felt an intense wave of fear. Then the room started spinning and she felt like she was going to throw up. Her whole body was shaking, she couldn't catch her breath, and her heart was pounding out of her chest. She dropped down to the floor; her breath coming out in short puffs.

Emily was downstairs talking to the neighbors completely oblivious to JJ's panic attack, she'd left strict orders for the team to not let the blonde out of their sight. Of course JJ had to have gone to the restroom when her reality came crashing down.

Right outside the door stood Morgan and Hotch talking quietly waiting for the younger woman to exist.

"She's been in there a while," said Morgan knocking on the door, "JJ is everything ok?" he asked but received no answer. Exchanging a quick look with the Unit Chief Morgan knew what he had to do.

"Get away from the door Jay, we're coming in," he kicked the door once and it didn't budge.

The sound of Morgan's boot making contact with the wooded door managed to capture the attention of every single person in the apartment, Hotch turned to Reid, "go get Prentiss," he barked, the young doctor ran out in search of the older woman.

One more swift kick did the trick, Morgan found JJ on the floor having trouble breathing, "Baby Girl, what's the matter," the liaison didn't even acknowledge his presence.

Venturing a look behind him, he found Hotch and Rossi standing by what was left of the door. "She hyperventilating," said Rossi.

Morgan turned his attention back to the agent in question. "Stay with me," he pleaded taking a sit behind the gasping woman. He pulled her back flush up against his chest and he started taking deep breaths hoping to encourage the younger agent to mimic his movements.

"Focus on my breathing, let's do it together," JJ flinched as soon as he touched her. "Hey relax, you're safe, I'm not going to hurt you, he whispered in her ear.

"I-I'm dy-in…" she rasped.

Hotch kneeled in front of her, "you're going to be ok, you're having a panic attack Jennifer, it'll pass," said team leader taking her face in his hands. "Just concentrate on your breathing, please," he begged.

They heard two sets of footsteps running, getting closer to them. "What the hell happened?" asked a clearly pissed off Emily.

"She's having a panic attack, we're in the bathroom," called Hotch over his shoulder.

Emily took in the sight in front of her; the bathroom door was nothing more than few chunks of wood. Peering further in she saw her boss kneeling in front of JJ, holding her face in his hands whispering at her to breathe. Behind the struggling woman was Derek, he held JJ protectively against his chest. _Oh God Jay, what happened to you?_ She said to herself, finally being able to catch a glance of the blonde.

JJ sat there, in the middle of the floor, clutching her chest, ragged breaths escaping her lips, tears breaking through the tightly shut eyelids. Emily didn't notice Hotch standing up and giving his former place to her. Grateful, Emily kneeled in front of the young woman.

"Sweetheart, you have to try to take deep breaths," Emily pleaded, "you're going to be ok, just breathe with Morgan." JJ started taking slower breaths.

"There you go," she said trying to smile, "that's my girl."

As soon as the blonde's breathing started to resemble something normal, Emily took her in her arms.

Morgan stood up giving the two women some much needed privacy, "Hotch I'm gonna kill him, the minute I lay eyes on him I'll kill him with my bare hands," said the darker agent running his hands over his bold head.

"Get in line buddy," replied Rossi.

"This is too much for her Hotch," said Morgan, "I've never seen her break down like this."

The Unit Chief knew that, he knew the younger agent could only take so much more. Looking at the three men, "we can't leave her here," he said defeated.

"She's going to have a hard time if she goes to New Orleans with us," mentioned Rossi venturing a glance at the two women in the bathroom.

Hotch shook his head, he didn't know what to do, "she has to come," he sighted, the last statement was more for him.

Emily emerged holding JJ close to her; "Hotch, we're not leaving JJ here," the finality in her voice gave no room for questions. JJ's eyes met with his, "I'm fine," she looked at the rest of the team, "really, this won't happen again," she promised.

"JayJe this was a very reasonable reaction to what you encountered today. You don't have to feel ashamed for it," said Reid gently putting a hand on the blonde agent's arm.

"Thanks," was all she could come up with.

"Aright, it's settled wheels up in thirty," said the Hotcher, venturing on last look at JJ.

"Detective Crawfish, you're dead meat," said Morgan as they walked out of what once had been JJ's home.

-o-

Emily took a seat next to JJ handing her a cup of steaming coffee. With an affectionate smile the brunette turned her attention back to the team.

"What have we got?" asked Hotch, going back to his profiler mode. They had made the decision to treat this case just like any other, there was an unsub, there were crimes and they had jurisdiction.

"We know he has anger issues," replied Rossi, "he's smart, strong, confident."

"He secretly stalks and follows his victims. His victims have no idea what they are up against because he builds relationships," said Reid avoiding JJ at all cost, "he maintains submission through violence, both physical and emotional."

"Ok but why kill now?" asked Emily, "what made this woman different from all the others."

Shifting in her seat JJ whispered, "she looked like me," a tense silence filled the cabin.

"He's escalating," began the darker agent, "But she wasn't his target, she just happened to be there at the wrong time, I don't think he meant to kill her when he took her, something inside LaMontage snapped," added Morgan, reaching over the table to take one of JJ's hand.

"We all know who his real target is, by committing the crime in JJ's apartment and by placing the body on her bed he was taunting us, sending a message," mentioned Hotch.

"Message received loud and clear," murmured JJ to herself.

"Let's continue this when we land. We'll be there shortly, take this last hour to get some rest, I need you all on your game when we land," said the team leader dismissing the meeting.

Meanwhile in New Orleans Will sat on the porch of a little run down house, cleaning the barrels of his many guns. It was only a matter of time before the BAU arrived and he wanted to be ready.

The team as a whole held no value to him; he only had one priority: Take JJ.

**PLEASE R&amp;R!**


	21. Chapter 21

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 21**

Louisiana welcomed them with a sky full of storm clouds and turbulence during the landing. To JJ it seemed fitting, fitting of her mood and fitting of her life. She had barely spoken on the flight and was very aware of the concerned looks directed at her. _I'm not a victim, _ she kept repeating in her mind, her thoughts wandered back to her earlier panic attack, _what if I have one again? _ She wondered immediately searching for the comfort of Emily's hand.

The brunette looked at their intertwined fingers and despite the circumstances she smiled, holding on a little tighter.

"Hotch we aren't going to the New Orleans PD are we? He could have supporters there," mentioned Morgan closing the door of the SUV.

"No, we're going to the FBI field office, Garcia already briefed them on the case," said the older man pulling out of the tarmac.

"Speaking of Garcia she'll be joining us here later today, said something about one of her trackers going off," mentioned Hotch, "she has been putting false leads in the system trying to tip off Crawfish's informants."

JJ was sitting, as close as humanly possible to Emily, the tension seemed to radiate off her. Emily was starting to get concerned, JJ wasn't talking and that wasn't normal. The older woman exchanged a look with Hotch through the rearview mirror silently assuring him that she had everything under control.

The similarities the New Orleans field office had with Quantico was reassuring. The same horrible off white walls, the same government issued stale coffee. It seemed as if the busy office came to a stop as soon as they walked in.

"Aaron," greeted a detective.

"Chuck, how is everything," responded the team leader, stepping back to introduce his team.

"Agent Charles Raneaux, these are SSA's Rossi, Morgan, Prentiss, Jareau, and Doctor Reid," he said allowing the agents to shake hands. With pleasantries out of the way they got down to business. Their assigned conference room already had their staple evidence board, victim information and a large map for a geographical profile. It didn't get any easier to see the faces of the severely beaten women; but at least they had had the common sense to not put JJ's picture up.

"Agent we need to start conducting interview's with LaMontage's family, the quicker we find him the quicker we can go home," mentioned Morgan grimacing after taking a sip of the standard FBI coffee.

"Yes, we have compiled a list and already have conducted preliminary interviews, out of rather long list we were able to narrow it down to ten potential people who might either help or know the location of the suspect," finished Raneaux.

"Morgan, you and Rossi start making house calls, try to find anything you can on our unsub," order Hotch.

"It'd be better if they took a couple of our local agents with them, in this neck of woods things work a little differently," said Agent Raneaux pointing at to agents to follow along.

Not really happy with the idea, Hotch nodded in acceptance. "Prentiss, Reid, you start working on victimology, JJ I need you to put together a press release…" Hotch was interrupted by a angry Emily.

"What the hell Hotch? JJ shouldn't be doing that," she said hotly.

"Agent Prentiss, Agent Jareau is our media liaison," started the Unit Chief, falling back to formalities, seeing the hurt in Emily's eyes he softened his tone, "Emily a word?"

Emily walked closer to the agent her disbelief evident in her stance, "Hotch, JJ is barely holding herself together, do you really think this is a good idea?"

"Will is monitoring our every move, and while Garcia might've been able to stall him we need him to show, we have no idea where he might be right now, it's our only choice plus she won't be alone, we'll all be there," he tried to reassure her.

"Also, I know the 'dynamics' between you two have changed but I need to know you'll be able to keep a leveled head during this case, if that's not the case let me know now," he said putting a comforting hand on Emily's shoulder.

"Of course I'll keep a leveled head, I have to Hotch, we need to catch this son of bitch," she said slightly taken aback by Hotch's care.

"That's what I thought," he confirmed, "I'll try to keep both of you here but I have a feeling we'll all be in the field soon enough."

With a curt nod Emily headed back to Reid and started to diligently working on victimology.

Hotch felt a small hand on his shoulder, turning around he was met with grateful blue eyes, "thank you Hotch, for giving me something to do," whispered JJ. The older agent managed a soft smile before taking off to meet with Agent Raneaux.

"He's all over the map, he crosses age and ethnicity," said a clearly frustrated Emily, "the only time he showed any type of consistency is with Jay and his last victim."

"I think we're not seeing something important," said the young doctor standing up to look at the evidence board, "it isn't about a physical type," he mused, "it's what these women represent to him. The ones that got the most physical injuries were suspects or victims, while the ones that allegedly got raped were women in positions of power. These women in power seemed to be his mark, he only takes time to stalk them, to build relationships with them."

"The other women just happened to be there when he snaps," added Emily following on Reid's train of thought.

"Well he clearly has a deep seeded hate and resentment towards females, but in particular women in positions of power: a lawyer, a doctor, two police officers, JJ is an FBI agent and the last victim was a junior partner in a law firm," before Emily could ask him why he'd put JJ on that list he continued, "I know she said she wasn't raped this time, but she also said that it had been going on for a while, it might have happened before," he concluded sadly, the pit in Emily's stomach started to grow with that thought.

-o-

"Will, they're here, four agents just left my house, they're asking about you," said a man.

"What did you tell them?" asked Will.

"I told them what you said, I told them about your cabin, I told them that you were probably there," said the man sounding pleased with himself.

"Good, you did good Billy," praised the detective, "now we wait for them to come to me," with a sudden click the phone call ended.

_Soon JJ, it's only a matter of time now, _Will thought to himself as he polished his recently acquired set of knives. Still chuckling he made one last phone call to his FBI informant in New Orleans, double-checking that the plan was still in order he retired for the night. _Tomorrow my Cher, I'll see you tomorrow._

**Please R&amp;R!**


	22. Chapter 22

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 22**

After five hours of working on the victimology, Reid and Emily were more than ready for a break. It wasn't just the caffeine that was calling to the older woman, she wanted to have sometime to talk to JJ before the scheduled press conference.

"Coffee break?" asked Emily.

Relief seemed to wash over the young doctor, "yes please," he added practically running out of the room.

A small hand slipped into hers as she followed Reid, she had memorized that touch, she had memorized the warmth, she knew it was JJ. Smiling softly she turned to look at the blonde.

"Hey, I was just coming to get you, coffee break?" asked the brunette.

"Sure, I could use some," answered JJ pulling the older agent to where Reid waited impatiently.

JJ had a press conference scheduled in 45 minutes; every time she thought about it a wave of dizziness hit her, a wave of panic. To say she was nervous would be a tremendous under statement; she was closer to petrified, knowing that Will would be watching her.

The podium was set up waiting for her, dozens of reporters with as many cameras were gathered. She'd done this a million times but today it was different, she was talking to a man that had personally attacked her. Rossi urged her forward gently; those five stairs to the podium seemed longer than a mile. _Pull yourself together; the team is counting on you, _thought the young blonde.

Plastering her liaison face she walked confidently toward the cameras. Emily stood immediately behind her; the rest of the team flanked her protectively.

The typical introduction had flowed easily, "we are looking for Detective William LaMontage Jr. in regards to several cold cases," she hesitated, "he is armed an dangerous, anyone with any information concerning Mr LaMontage's whereabouts is urged to contact the local FBI offices."

Her hands started to tremble at the onslaught of questions hurled at her, "he is also the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Do not and I repeat do not approach the suspect," the mass of reporters threw more questions, normally JJ could've handled the media frenzy, just not today, not on this case. She wanted nothing more than to get out of there and hide.

Emily ignored the hungry reporters; completely focused on JJ's discomfort, making eye contact with the Chief Unit she received a nod. That was all the confirmation needed to get the media liaison out of there. She discreetly took JJ's arm and guided her back into the building leaving the rest of the team to answer questions.

"I think I'm going to be sick," confessed the younger woman.

Changing paths Emily lead them to the nearest bathroom. JJ swayed slightly before empting the contents of her stomach.

Pulling a mane of blonde hair up Emily rubbed her back, "shhhh, it's over Jay, you did great," she tried reassuringly.

-o-

Will smiled at the TV, his Jennifer was there, _she looks so scared, _he mused almost giddy. Reaching in his pocket he pulled his cell phone.

"Billy, change of plans," he said smiling, "move up the time line," he paused to something the other man was saying.

"As soon as you have the opportunity, I'll be waiting," Will hung up.

-o-

It had barely been a few hours and the phones hadn't stopped ringing, most calls were empty leads. Amongst the ringing and commotion JJ had not moved from her spot next to Emily on the conference table.

"Sunshine," they heard a voice, a very familiar voice.

"Baby girl, how was the flight?" asked Morgan.

"Too long if you ask me. Three hours away from my babies is too long!" said the colorful woman, sparing a sympathetic smile at JJ.

Raneaux interrupted the reunion, "Hotch, I think this one might be a good one for you to take," he said pressing the speaker button on the phone.

JJ didn't want to listen to it, she silently left the room, whispering something about needing to use the restroom, Emily was about to follow, "stay here Em, I just need a second," Emily reluctantly agreed and turned back to the man speaking on the phone.

_I need some coffee, _thought the blonde, changing paths to the coffee pot. The offices were eerily quiet, _what did you expect JJ? It's almost ten at night, _she said to herself.

"Agent Jareau," called an unfamiliar masculine voice, "you're team asked me to escort you to the garage, they got a viable lead on the suspect," he said quickly.

JJ didn't have time to question the man as he made his way out. _Something's not right, _she thought once they had made it to the garage, the three SUV's assigned to the team were neatly parked where they had left them and there wasn't another soul with them in the parking structure.

Turning to look at the agent, "Excuse me Ag…" she never got to finish her sentence, as the butt of his gun hit her in the head, immediately rendering the blonde useless.

With little effort he lifted her and loaded her into a fourth SUV, ironically parked right next to the where Emily had parked.

"Will's waitin for you JayJe, said he has many things planned for you," smiled Agent Billy Smith. Putting his foot on the gas he sped out of the garage.

"Will? I got her," he said proudly, "I'll be there in twenty minutes."

The next time JJ opened her eyes she was living one of her nightmares, her arms and legs were tied to a metal chair, and she had a pair of crazed eyes on her, Will's eyes.

"Hello, Cher, hope you're comfortable, we've got a long night ahead," she said sweetly.

_I will not be a victim again, _she thought to herself as Will's fist connected with her temple.

**Pleaseeee R&amp;R!**


	23. Chapter 23

**I don't ****own ****Criminal Minds! **** Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 23**

_Another empty lead, _thought Emily to herself, pacing in frustration. The man had been one of LaMontage's many cousins, telling them off. He had gone on for almost five minutes straights, not really saying anything.

"Let's go to the hotel," said Hotch picking up his jacket, "we'll start again tomorrow morning." His eyes searched for a familiar pair of blue ones, he was sure were full of fears. He search to no avail, "where's JJ?"

Emily's heart stopped beating for a second, quickly scanning the room, she headed toward the restrooms, passing the many rows of empty desks.

"She's not here," her voice full of panic, 'she told me she was going to the bathroom and that she needed a minute."

"Call her," barked the Unit Chief.

"She's not answering," responded Garcia.

"Reid, keep calling her, Garcia track her," fear was building in the pit of his stomach. Had the call been a distraction? Could the Media Liaison have been taken right under their nose?

"I need the footage of every camera in this building and the surrounding perimeter," he announced walking over to a distraught looking Emily.

"We'll find her," he told her.

"I should have gone with her Hotch, she told me to stay, I shouldn't have listened," she said close to tears.

"Guys, Garcia got something," announced Reid.

The technical analyst pulled up footage from one of the garage cameras, there they could clearly see JJ being struck and loaded into a car.

"Oh my girl," whispered the colorful woman.

"Who is that man with her?" asked Morgan, frustration evident in his voice, "Raneaoux, is that one of yours?"

The local agent could only look in surprise as one of his best men asoulted the young blonde, "yes, that's Billy Smith, if I wasn seein' it with my own eyes I wouldn' believe he'd done it!"

"Son of a bitch, he took her," said Morgan punching a wall.

"We need to regroup, leave your emotion's out of it. JJ is counting on us to get her back. We can't afford to be emotionally involved," said Rossi, his voice going against everything he was saying.

"What would we do if this was just another hostage situation," asked Hotch.

"We'd track the cell phone, track the car, follow them as far as possible with the city's surveillance cameras," said Emily, barely holding her emotions in check, "is the that vehicle bureau issued?" she questioned.

"Way ahead of you kitty cat, I 'm using the GPS to track the car, thank God for small favors and GPS," said Penelope, "I just sent the coordinates to all your phones."

"Let's go," said Hotch, "Prentiss, Morgan ride with me."

"Get my Sunshine back!" said Garcia tearing up, "I'll call you with any updates."

-o-

"Jennifer, wake up," Will whispered, tracing his fingers over her newly bruised face, "Darlin," he slapped her face, "I said wake up!"

The pain had been enough to revive the blonde, immediately aware of her surrounding she began to fight against the restraints, _they'll find me, _she said to herself. Looking around Will was nowhere to be seen, but something told her to keep her guard.

She felt the cold barrel of a gun caressing the back of her arms, biting her tongue she managed to keep from screaming. "What do you want from me Will?" she said in anger.

"tsk, tsk, tsk, you need to learn to keep your mouth shut, Cher, didn' your momma teach not to speak like that to your husband," he smacked her head with the gun.

That last statement caught her by surprise, _he's not my husband, _she thought. Trying to asses his mental faculties was too much for her at the time. He was probably delusional, but she didn't have time to profile him right now, she needed to find a weakness and use it to escape.

"Now JayJe, Billy told me something very interesting," he said walking in front of her, "he told me you were getting cozy with another woman, Emily, I think is her name?" he said, grabbing a knife from inside his pocket.

"See if I had known you were like that, I'd done this much sooner," he said, kicking the chair over.

She felt him break her ribs as he kicked her in the stomach, this time a cry the slip out of her lips, "you can cry all you want, no one can hear from here."

Her mind was spinning, _JJ you need to focus, _she said to herself, _you need to at least try to get out of here. Emily is waiting; you need to get back to her. _She manage to get a good look around, _concrete walls, _she saw a wooden door right ahead of her, and a table set up with many guns and knives. Wishing she'd kept her eyes closed, she looked for Will; he was standing by the table whispering to himself. _He probably had a mental break with the last murder; _she thought noticing how he was answering his own questions.

She thought back to the profilers, to her family, she remember Hotch saying, _"a mentally unstable, threatened unsub is the most dangerous." _But she also remembered something Reid had said, _"she followed his dilution, it's what kept her alive." _

Lost in her thoughts she'd missed the man moving closer to her again, knife in hand he kneeled by her legs, "now, now Cher, this might hurt a little," he said plunging the knife deep in her leg. The scream that tore her throat startled him, his eyes shifted slightly, she saw some of the man she had once known, taking this opportunity she spoke.

"Will, you don't want to do this, just let me go," she said forcefully.

Will seemed to think about it for a few seconds, "what would be the fun in that JJ, I thought you were smarter," he said giving her a sick smile.

"They're going to find us Will," she said.

"Well of course they are," replied the man, momentarily silencing JJ, "they'll find me JayJe, but they won't find you, at least not alive."

_ -o-_

"Mama, we are where you sent us, the car is empty, no sign of LaMonatge or JJ anywhere," said Morgan putting Garcia on speakerphone.

"What about the Smith guy?" asked the analyst.

"Dead," answered Emily, "gun shot wound to the head."

"I need you to look into all of LaMontage's properties, his families as well. We have put up a BOLO alert to the city of New Orleans and the surrounding counties," said the Unit Chief.

"Sir, the vehicle stopped there less than thirty minutes ago," said the analyst, "if he's near I will find him, Garcia out."

"Hotch," called Rossi, "we found JJ's cell phone."

Emily ran to the older man, taking a look at the devise in the evidence bag, "that's not her phone," she said in relief. The whole team looked at her expectantly, "she picked a different one up before we left for Pennsylvania, it was a temporary phone, a safe number, a number Will couldn't call," she continued, "but she kept her original phone on her. This phone is the original, she probably still has the other one."

Hotch broke away from the group, "Garcia we found JJ's first phone…" he said.

"first? As in there is a second one?" the flamboyant woman questioned, temporarily forgetting she was talking to her boss.

"Penelope, I need you to track the second one, Emily is texting you the number, don't call it or do anything that might draw attention to it, if Will doesn't know she has we want to keep it that way," communicated the leader, allowing a quick smiling at Garcia's grumbled "yes sir."

Not even ten seconds after hanging up Hotch's phone started to ring, "Sir, I've got something, or more like sixteen somethings," began a rather excited Garcia, "the LaMontage's own a lot, and by a lot I mean thousands of acres of land, but as far as property near your location I've found sixteen structures, belonging to someone or other in Detective Crawfish's family."

"He's going to need room," began Rossi.

"And privacy," jumped Reid, "Garcia look for isolated buildings, preferably with a large perimeter of land surrounding them."

The typing went on for a second, "boy genius, got twelve locations, any other specifics?"

Rossi thought about it, "He's been keeping in contact with his extended family, do any of those buildings belong to distant cousins?" he requested.

"Also, didn't someone mention a cabin in one of the interviews?" asked Emily.

"That my sugar plum, narrows our options to five," continued Garcia, "I've sent address to your phones, keep me updated, ciao!"

"Let's go Reid, Rossi, Chuck take the first two, the rest of us will take the other three," he silently prayed that this was the right move to make, time was running out, it had already been two hours since JJ was taken, they needed to find her quickly.

-o-

It had been a while since the last time Will had hit her; grateful for the break she took the opportunity to analyze her captor. He stood just out of the reach of the light, in the shadows, still mumbling to himself.

She noticed his shadow moving toward her; bracing herself for the blows she was surprised when they never came. Tempting fate she opened her eyes, and saw something in Will's that resembled amusement.

"There are somethings that have to happen tonight," he said cutting the restrains on her feet, "you're not going to like them, but someone's gotta teach you."

In the few seconds he took to cut the ropes he's set his gun down next to him, he caught her looking at it.

"Now don't you start getting any ideas, because your hell hasn't even began," he pushed the gun a little further away, "I'd save my strength if I were you."

The next half hour left JJ in a world of pain, he beat her like never before. JJ couldn't move even if she wanted to. And as a final sick joke he left the gun two feet away from her broken body.

Barely grasping onto consciousness JJ thought, _I will not be a victim again._

_-o-_

_We're coming Jay, hold on a little longer, _pleaded Emily.

**Pleeeeease R&amp;R!**


	24. Chapter 24

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 24**

Of course it had to be the last location. Luck seemed to have a sick sense of humor. Four broken doors to four empty houses.

Hotch had called the other unit to the fifth location, he had a feeling this was it. Everyone gathered about half a mile away from their target, waiting on their leader for instruction.

"Chuck, call back up," he told the agent.

The New Orleans man, immediately got on his phone requesting back up, while Hotch dialed the last member of the BAU.

"Garcia, please tell me you have something!" said Hotch putting the phone on speaker, "we're at the fifth house."

"Unfortunately Sir I haven't been able to track the phone yet," said the analyst typing her voice betraying her frustration, "but I do have a floor plan for the last location."

"There are two main entry points," she continued, "I'm sending everything to your phones right now!"

The unit chief didn't hesitate in ending the phone call, floor plans would have to do, "Raneaux, Reid and I will take the back door," he looked up at Emily, "Morgan, Prentiss, and Reid take the front. LaMontagne is armed and dangerous, do not hesitate."

_We're here JayJe, _thought Emily hoping somehow that the blonde could hear her thoughts. She was fidgety and nervous, her mind going over a million different scenarios. Unfortunately for Will he ended up dead in every single one.

"Game time," said Morgan pulling out his gun, "ready Princess? Let's get our girl back."

The two teams split up, quietly walking closer to the house. Hotch took his team back while Morgan lead the other two agents to the front door.

-o-

"C'mon Cher, you need to wake up, I was just beginning to have fun," said Will kneeling next to the unconscious agent.

_He won't hurt you if he thinks you're knocked out, _the blonde woman said to herself. It had been grueling, the pain he inflicted on her broken body was torture, she wasn't sure how much longer she could hold on. _Em, hurry, _she thought, _you promised he wouldn't hurt me again._

She could hear her captor moving around, but she couldn't risk opening her eyes. Suddenly her resolve broke as a wave of blinding pain invaded her, she could see a knife protruding form her arm.

"I knew that'd wake you up," said the crazed man, "now we can begin _my_ fun."

His calloused hands reached for the button of her jeans, JJ knew what was coming, _oh God, please just let me die now, _she thought.

"You'll die when I want you to die," said Will kissing her roughly. She hadn't realized she'd spoken out loud.

With one kick tug Will managed to pop all the buttons on her shirt, leaving her white bra exposed. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins, if she didn't do something now he was going to rape her. Her eyes darted wildly around looking for something, anything.

Her sight finally focused on a black object at arms length, tears began pouring down her face, it was Will's gun. The man had probably forgotten he's left it there. She took a leap of faith and reached for the weapon. He was so busy with her pants, that he didn't notice JJ reach for the arm, he didn't see her grabbing it. Finally looking up he saw JJ getting ready to aim the gun, "you better put that down," he whispered angrily, "I got my own one of those," he said showing her his own pistol.

JJ's thoughts slipped back to the last night she'd seen the Will, _next time I will run a bullet through your head, _she thought back then. This, was that next time.

-o-

Both teams were inside the house, the main floor had been cleared. Emily had just put her foot on the first stair going to the second level, when two shotgun rang throughout the house. Her heart dropped. Six pairs of boots made their way to the source of the noise, the entrance of the basement.

Emily was the first one there, the stairs leading down creaked loudly as the team ran, only to be met by another door. Forgetting protocol Emily swung the door open, she stopped breathing at the sight before her, only three words fell out of her mouth, "Oh God Jay."

**R&amp;R!**

**Next Chapter will be up soon!**


	25. Chapter 25

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 25**

She'd heard the footsteps coming closer and the door opening, but the pain was too much, she couldn't concentrate on anything. She'd heard victims describing this moment before. The moment before you die.

She was so cold, she wished for more than to sleep, it would so easy to give into the darkness, that was until she heard her voice, the voice she dreamt about, "Oh God Jay," it Emily, her Emily.

The older woman was at her side in seconds, "Hotch we need a medic," she screamed. _Shhh, so much noise, _thought JJ.

As soon as she saw the two bodies sprawled on the concrete floor, surrounded by halos of blood, she broke. Emily had been trained to leave her emotions behind, she'd be taught to maintain complete focus and composure until the job was done. But this time she couldn't, this time she wouldn't, every single fiber of her being demanded she go to JJ. She ignored her training and instead of checking Will for a pulse she went straight to the blonde woman. Thanking the heavens she'd found a steady beating under her fingers.

"She's alive," she whispered, in absolute ecstasy. Finally, able to think somewhat straight she took the opportunity to look at younger woman closely, it was then that she noticed the bullet wound on her shoulder.

Fear began to creep once again, she was about to call for the medics again, but her voice got caught in her throat.

Blue eyes opened, "Emily," called JJ.

"Jen, I'm here! Stay with me baby, please stay with me," the brunette pleaded in between tears.

Meanwhile Morgan went to check on Will, putting two fingers on his neck, he let out the breath he didn't know he was holding, "he's dead."

"Where's the ambulance? She's loosing too much blood," Emily called.

"They're one their way," answered Reid, running upstairs hearing the approaching sirens.

"I'm sorry Em, I'm so sorry," whispered JJ, searching the for the older agent's hand.

"You have nothing to be sorry for, it's over, he's gone," replied Emily, grasping her pale hand.

The paramedics were coming down the stairs, following the young doctor's lead.

"Miss, we need you to step away," asked one of the medics. Emily had no plans of following that request; it was only when she felt Morgan's arms slowly pulling her away that she moved.

"Princess, they need the room," he said kindly.

Hotch and Rossi had been looking around the room, realizing how close the young woman had come to dying. The table that Will had set up had ten knives; three of them were covered in blood.

Emily broke away from Morgan, taking in the bloody weapons, "I want every single person that help this sick bastard in jail," she told Hotch.

"The arrest warrants are being processed right now," answered Rossi, he wanted nothing more than to take the woman in his arms, he wanted to comfort her, tell her everything was going to be ok. But a quick glance at the gurney the paramedics were wheeling out told him that the only person that could comfort Emily right now was laying on a stretcher.

"Go with her Emily," ordered the unit chief. This was one order Emily was happy to follow.

Once at the hospital the team waited for news, Emily had a sense of déjà vu at the scene before her. She hated the stiff chairs of the waiting room and the smell of antiseptic was making her nauseous, "I need to get some air," she said to no one in particular, taking off for the nearest exist.

She never saw Reid following her, she needed to be alone and she needed comfort at the same time, she wanted JJ to be ok and she wished she'd been the one to kill the detective. She was so angry, she was so frustrated, adrenaline was still pumping through her body.

With a quick movement she allowed her fist to connect with the brick exterior of the hospital, it took some of the edge off. She pictured Will's face on that wall, and the punches kept coming, with one frustrated grunt she hit again. Gentle arms grabbed her from behind, "Emily you're going to hurt yourself," Reid whispered pinning her still with a hug.

"She's hurt," she said fighting the comfort, "that bastard hurt her."

"But when she wakes up she'll need you to be ok," he tried to reason with her. In the midst of chaos the young doctor found comfort in reason and logic.

"God, she has to pull through, she has to be ok," whispered the older woman finally embracing Reid.

"She will be, she has too much to live for," he said firmly.

Every single compartment and wall she'd ever put up came crumbling down, she broke from the inside out, "I promised he wouldn't hurt her again," she pushed him away, "I promised."

"Emily, this isn't your fault," he told her strongly, "she knows that, we all do. The only person responsible for this is now dead."

At least she could draw comfort from that; William LaMontagne was dead. He would never come near JJ again.

"It's been a few hours, the doctors should be out with an update soon," he said taking her hand pulling the broken woman back inside, "and you should probably get your hands looked at," he said glancing at her bloody knuckles.

She had no energy left to fight him, inside Reid handed the broken woman to Morgan's waiting arms, "Prentiss, you have to leave punching walls to me," joked the darker agent.

"Jennifer Jareau?"

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	26. Chapter 26

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 26**

She missed everything the doctor had said, the broken ribs, the internal bleeding, the gunshot wound, the broken bones, the lacerations, the bruises, the scrapes, she missed it all, she stopped listening as soon as he said, "she's stable."

The team would have to fill her in later, right now she only wanted to see JJ, she wanted to see for herself that in fact the younger agent was fine.

"Can I see her?" the words slipped out before her brain could register what she was saying. She knew somewhere in her mind that the rest of the team probably wanted to see her just as bad, but right now it was ok to be selfish, right now it wasn't SSA Jennifer Jareau they were talking about, right now it was Jennifer, her Jennifer.

"Of course," said the doctor, "visiting hours are over, but I'll make an exception for all of you. She'll be asleep, please let a nurse know as soon as she wakes up."

He muttered a room number and Emily was gone before any of them could stop her. She'd do things right, she wasn't about to miss another minute; she wasn't willing to let another psycho come near them again.

God knew she had secrets of her own; she had her own psychos that might come knocking at their door. William LaMontagne had helped her decide to share everything with the team. No more risks, no more secrets, she was ready for her happily ever after.

_128, 129, 130, 131 here it is, _she mentally counted the doors, _I'm never leaving your side again, _she promised before entering the room.

Her mind flashed back to the last time she'd seen JJ in a hospital bed, this time it was much worse. The blonde hair she had learned to love was still pink tinged with drying blood. Bruises, cuts and countless IV needles marred the soft skin she had secretly kissed in the dead of night. The eyes that had stolen her heart lay closed, dark bags clearly showing the exhaustion on the sleeping agents face.

"Jen, sweetheart," she pleaded, regretting every single second she had left JJ alone. The need for some type of physical contact was overpowering her, yet she didn't know where she could touch with out hurting her.

"I'm here, baby," she tentatively reached for a bandaged hand, "you're safe now."

That bandaged hand twitched slightly at the sound of Emily's voice, "Em?"

"JayJe, I'm right here," Emily promised fiercely, getting even closer to the injured woman.

JJ opened her eyes and searched for the older woman, "if feel like I got hit by a truck," she tried to break the tension.

The older woman's expression didn't change, deep sadness marked her soft features, "I have to go get a nurse, I'll be right back," she announced.

"No, no, stay with me just for a little while longer," pleaded the blonde, ignoring the pain in her chest. Emily couldn't deny her anything right now.

"I missed you," whispered JJ trying to pull Emily's hands to her lips, "I knew you'd find me."

Seeing JJ pained expression Emily leaned over giving her the gentlest kiss possible, "I'd find you anywhere," she affirmed, not pulling away from JJ's lips.

"I love you," hot tears made their way down her bruised face.

"I know," said Emily fighting the need to hug her, "I love you too, so much."

Emily slowly pulled away, she searched around the bed and sheets for the call button, she needed to call a nurse, but there was no power in this world that would separate her JJ.

Almost immediately a nurse came running inside, Emily caught a glace of the entire team waiting outside. She sent a silent _thank you_ to them for giving her these few moments of privacy.

"Are you in any pain Jennifer?" asked the kind nurse.

"JJ, call me JJ," said the blonde, "and no pain that I can't handle," she lied.

The nurse made a face, "you don't have to handle any pain honey," she said.

"I'm alive, I want to be able to feel it," whispered JJ, throwing a small smile at Emily.

The nurse nodded and made her way out of the room letting them know that the doctor would stop by soon, "could you let our team to come in?" asked Emily.

Slowly the rest of the team filtered in, the silence was broken by Garcia's tearful greeting, "Sunshine."

"Pen, don't cry," asked JJ, "I'm ok now."

Not listening to the blonde, Garcia tried to convey her love by gently putting her hand on JJ's uninjured leg.

"These are happy tears Angel," promised the analyst.

The next few hours passed in blur, the team tried to ease the tension by sharing funny stories and memories. JJ was grateful for their jokes and laughter, the happiness was welcomed after the hell she had endured. The doctor stopped by and told them she was still in critical condition and that she needed rest. But if everything went according to plan they could reevaluate in a couple days. Along with the doctors departure also went the easy smiles and laughter.

She had to ask, her last few memories were still a little blurry, she needed to know.

Emily was the first to sense JJ's shift, "what's the matter Jay?" she asked, seeing the heart monitor shoot up, "are you in pain?"

JJ shook her head, "no I'm fine," shifting painfully on the sheets, taking deep breaths to ease the pain, "I need to know something."

It was Morgan, perched at the foot of the bed, that understood her silent question, looking at her seriously, he said, "he's dead JJ, he's gone."

JJ looked at the rest of the faces in the room, she saw a mixture of relief, anger and love on all of them. "Good," she replied looking down, trying to ignore her aching body.

"All of the people that aided him are in custody right now," Reid mentioned, "it's over JayJe."

"It won't be hard to nail them, they all seem to be a bunch of crooks," said the Italian man with a some pleasure, "they'll be put away for a long time Bella."

"We'll let you rest now JayJe," said the unit chief heading for the door, noticing the how much paler her face seemed to look, "I have a feeling none of us will go further than the waiting room."

"If you need anything Sunshine, we'll be just right down the hall," proclaimed the analyst picking up her purse.

Emily started to follow the team, "goodnight Jen, I'll be right outside," she promised.

"Stay here Em," begged the young blonde, sweat forming on her skin, "all of you, I don't want to be alone."

The team didn't need to be told twice; more chairs were brought in, each person claiming a spot for the night. Emily hadn't moved an inch away from the bed.

"You'll never be alone again," she promised to the half-asleep media liaison. She leaned over and gently pressed her lips against JJ's, not caring that the entire team was watching them, "I'll be here when you wake up."

Sleep came quickly for everyone but Emily. She could not stop her mind. She could not stop thinking about every single person that had helped William LaMontagne. It was her personal goal to make each one of them suffer. She would hunt them down.

She hadn't had the chance to get her hands on Will, but she'd definitely have a hand in making sure every person involved in JJ's hell paid dearly.

That would come later; right now she had to ensure JJ made it through the next few days. Once she was sure Jennifer would be ok, she would worry about the rest.

Little did she know that every member of the team was thinking the exact same thing.

Just as sleep was about to claim her, she noticed JJ's shivering, "JayJe, wake up," she tried; only managing to wake up Morgan and Hotch.

"What's wrong Princess?" asked Morgan quickly walking up to the bed.

"I don't know, she was fine a minute ago, now she's shivering," putting her hand on JJ's forehead, "she's burning up!" she said desperately.

"I'm going to get a nurse," said Hotch walking out of the room, by then the entire team was awake.

Two nurses quickly walked in and asked everyone to leave. "As soon as the doctor has a chance to see her, we'll came out to give you an update," said one of the nurses.

It took both Morgan and Hotch to get Emily out of the room, "I need her to be ok, Derek, she needs to be ok!" cried Emily.

"She will be," he said, not knowing for sure. A little while later, just as Garcia and Rossi had gone to get some coffee, the doctor showed up.

"JJ injuries were severe and she started bleeding internally, she's in surgery right now," said the doctor, "it's not looking good."

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	27. Chapter 27

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 27**

The last three hours had been pure torture. Emily had paced up and down the waiting room, silently drinking the countless cups of coffee handed to her. _It's not fair, _she thought, JJ had been through so much already.

If anything this experience shook her already wavering faith in the existence of a "God." They were excuses, she wanted someone to blame and unfortunately the culprit was dead.

The pounding on her head got progressively stronger; she was trying her best to block everything out. But in some corner of her mind she registered the team sitting nearby, watching her every move, she didn't want to talk to them, she didn't want to talk to anybody. Not until she could be sure JJ would pull through, until then her everything was on hold.

Hotch had tried several times to start a conversation with the brunette agent, only to be shot down. Couldn't they understand she was in pain, _you've never been the best at communicating your emotions, _she said to herself. If she was being honest, she wasn't sure she knew how to seek comfort in those that loved her. _That's not true, _her she said to herself, _JJ could always comfort you._

Her pacing was interrupted, a large hand covered her shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts, "Prentiss, you need to stop," tried Morgan, hoping to get through to the woman.

"Yeah, it could still be a while," began Garcia, "why don't you sleep a little?"

"I don't need sleep," snapped Emily, "I just need for JJ to be ok."

"We all want that Emily," added Rossi, "but you look like hell. Get some rest, we'll wake you if as soon as there's an update."

Emily had the feeling that this wasn't a request, she was also sure that the team wouldn't drop the subject. But it was only after much coaxing that Emily finally fell into a fitful sleep leaning on Morgan's shoulder. She'd only giving in after being repeatedly promised to be woken up as soon as there was an update.

Garcia watched Emily's eyes disappear under heavy lids, _just rest buttercup, _she thought to herself. Knowing that Emily was probably the most affected by this ordeal.

After making sure her "family" was comfortable she concentrated on her own feelings. Her entire body felt like a tight spring, she couldn't sit still, she couldn't think, she couldn't focus on anything. Garcia quietly murmured to the team that she was going to find a blanket for the sleeping brunette, and that had been her intention, but she quickly found herself wandering the hallways while bargaining with any and all divinities she could think of.

"Dear God, if you do exist please let JayJe live, if you do I promise…" her monologue interrupted by a doctor running into her.

"Oh I'm so sorry," she said, finally looking up. He was JJ's doctor, "oh my god, are you? Is she?" she said nervously.

"Agent Garcia?" he asked politely, exhaustion seeping in his words.

"Oh no, I'm not an agent, but I can be whatever you want if you tell me she's ok," she said quickly.

"Let's go find the rest of your team," he said not giving any hint as to the outcome of the surgery.

Garcia proceeded to drag the tired man to the waiting room. Both were quickly surrounded by the concerned profilers, "Prentiss, wake up, the doctor is here," whispered Morgan gently waking the brunette.

"How is she?" asked Emily.

"Like I said before JJ's injuries were severe," he began taking a seat, "one of her rib punctured her lung, and she started bleeding internally; thankfully we were able to control the bleeding and reinflate the lung."

Running a hand over his tired face he continued, "She needed several blood transfusions and she's on a ventilator," he said looking at Emily, "The fever steamed from a severe infection, but we got her on a very aggressive treatment and she seems to be responding to the antibiotics. It's still too early to say for sure but I'm optimistic she'll make a full recovery."

A sob escaped the brunette agent's lips, "It was touch and go for a while, but she's stable now. We'll be able to remove the breathing tube as soon as she wakes up from the anesthesia," his pager went off, "they just moved her to ICU, unfortunately we can't break the rules there, she can only have one visitor."

There was no question as to who that would be, "I'll show to her room," said the doctor motioning to Emily.

"Give her our love," whispered Garcia.

"We'll be right here Emily," said Reid.

She was grateful the doctor hadn't bothered with small talk; she was awful company at the moment.

It wasn't the breathing tube that shocked her, or even the countless wires coming off her body, it was her complexion, it was her stillness. _She's alive Emily, _she kept reminding herself. _You should've known something was wrong, _guilt took over mind. She felt guilt for many things. She should've know that Will was hurting her, she shouldn't have ever let the blonde out of her sight, she should've found her sooner, _but you didn't, _continued her mind.

Hesitant steps lead her to the younger agent's bedside, as careful as possible she took JJ's hand and brought it to her lips.

"Even if I have to pack you up and take you to a different country to hide away I'll keep you safe this time," she promised the sleeping figure.

She felt silly talking to the unconscious woman. But with a burst of confidence she kept going; she might as well say everything she had to say now.

"I'm so mad at you JayJe, how could you not tell me he was hurting you!" she said swallowing the large lump in her throat, "I would've helped you before it got to this."

_It's not her fault, _whispered a voice in her head, a voice that sounded oddly like Morgan. She had to laugh, "Maybe I'm crazy," she wondered out loud, "If I'm hearing Derek as the voice of reason in my head."

Her laughter was short lived, "I promise I'll make them pay, I'll find every single person involved and they won't see the light of day."

A little more sure of herself she reached a hand and caressed the blonde's forehead, "you have to get better sweetheart, we have so much to live," a single tear rolled down her cheek, "please Jen, I need you to be ok."

"I love you so much," she confessed, "come back to me."

At her declaration the heart monitor sped up a little Emily found comfort in that. She told herself it was JJ's heart telling her she loved her too.

The stress of the day was finally catching up to the brunette; somehow she had managed to fall asleep with her head on the bed, still clutching JJ's hand and for the first time in a while she slept soundly.

It was many hours later that she woke up to the shaky feeling of a hand patting her hair. Cracking an eye open, the first thing she noticed was the light coming from through window. Clearing the last of the tiredness, she noticed that the small hand she had been holding was now resting softly on her head.

"JayJe?" she called, the hand moved in response.

Finally realization hit her, quickly snapping up her head she found a pair of blue eyes staring lovingly at her, "oh my God, you're awake," she said, standing up abruptly. With a large smile she ran out the room to call a nurse.

Not even ten seconds later the brunette was back, dragging a young nurse behind her, "hello there," said the nurse, "I'm going to take your vitals and then we'll see if we can remove the breathing tube."

The nurse checked every inch of JJ's body, methodically inspecting every wound and dressing, seemingly satisfied with her findings she proceeded to remove the breathing tube.

"I'm going to sit you up," she said pulling the bed to a sitting position, "when I count to three I want you to cough and we'll get this tube out."

Emily was at her side in an instant, "you're doing great," she encouraged her, feeling the younger agent squeeze her hand as the tube was pulled out, "take slow breaths," she instructed.

"Emily," whispered JJ, her voice weak and raspy

"I'm here baby, I right here," proclaimed the older woman gently hugging the blonde, both oblivious to the nurse's departure.

"I love you too."

**R&amp;R!**


	28. Chapter 28

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 28**

"You should be able to go home tomorrow," said the doctor.

JJ stayed quiet, just as she had for the last three days. She'd only had a handful of conversations, most of them about wanting to go home. Emily was beginning to worry, the younger agent wasn't being herself, _she went through something terrible, t_he brunette reminded herself. Yet still, the silence was unnerving.

"Is she going to be able to fly back to DC?" asked Emily.

"Certainly," he answered, "she is on bed rest, but everything should be ok," with that he excused himself and left.

The older woman pondered for a minute before speaking, "I know you're not ok Jen, but you don't have to do this alone."

JJ didn't answer, instead she looked away, "sweetheart, talk to me," asked Emily.

"I can't," said the blonde, "I don't feel right."

"What do you mean?" continued Emily, gently turning the younger woman's face to look at her.

"Why did this happen? Was it something I did?" before Emily could answer she continue, "I don't even feel guilty for shooting him! What's wrong with me?"

Things were beginning to make sense, _finally, _thought Emily. "Nothing is wrong with you," she promised, "that feeling won't go away for a while, but I'll be right next to you on your good days and I'll take care of you on the bad ones. Don't shut me out Jay," she asked, placing a kiss on JJ's forehead.

"How can you kiss me?" asked the blonde pulling away, "I'm disgusting, I'm broken," a small sob escaped her lips, "he broke me."

Emily just shook her head, "you're not any of those things," she promised, getting up from her chair and laying next to the blonde on the hospital bed, "you're not disgusting and you're most definitely not broken," pulling the younger agent flush up against her. "I'll always kiss you and I'll always be here."

"What can I do to get you to believe me?" asked the brunette.

"Just hold me," replied JJ.

That's how the team found them the next morning, Emily protectively holding JJ and JJ grasping onto Emily's shirt.

"Awww, don't wake them," said Garcia stopping Morgan, "just let them sleep, God knows they deserve it."

The analyst smiled when Morgan took Emily's vacated seat next to the bed, they could wait, they could give these women a few more minutes of quietness. _At least they have each other, _thought Garcia.

Emily was the first one to stir, coming close to jumping out of her skin when she notice her entire team spread around the hospital room.

"Jay, you have some visitors," she whispered softly, waking the younger woman.

Bright blue eyes snapped open in fear, quickly remembering that she wasn't in William LaMontagne's hell anymore, her body relaxed and those same blue eyes radiated gratitude. _They're my family, _she said to herself, _and Emily is here._

"Good morning Sunshine," greeted Garcia.

"Hey Pen," answered the blonde not bothering to pull away from Emily, "Why are you guys here so early?" she asked looking at the clock on the wall; they were in fact two hours early.

"We're taking you home doll face," replied Morgan ruffling Prentiss' hair.

"Your doctor called this morning and said you were being discharged," added Hotch.

"We all know how desperate you are to get out of here," said Rossi handing each woman a cup of coffee, "so we got the jet ready to go, as soon as you are of course."

Reid sat down at the foot of the already cramped bed, "that is unless you want to stay," he said with a smile.

"Nooo, I am more than ready to go," she sat up quickly, grimacing in pain.

Emily put a gentle hand on the blonde's back, "easy tiger, we've got time."

The team minus Emily cleared out the room when the doctor walked in, "here are your discharge papers JJ," he put a stack of forms on the table, "I would like to go over some things before you go. I assume that Agent Prentiss will be helping you out when you get back to DC."

JJ hadn't really thought about it, she couldn't go back to her apartment, not that she wanted to anyway. She was, essentially, homeless. _I couldn't ask Emily, it wouldn't be fair to he, _she said in her head. _JJ you can take care of yourself, _she reassured herself.

Noticing the JJ's silence and hesitance, Emily spoke up, "Yes I'll be helping her, she'll be staying at my place for a while."

The doctor nodded in approval, "great, you'll need to have a follow up with your doctor back home in the next few days to remove the stitches. Here are you prescriptions," he handed her a bag of bottles, "taken as prescribed and please JJ, take the pain medication. If you're not focusing on the pain you'll be able to recover much faster. I'm sure you saw how to clean and dress the wounds," he said looking at Emily, "please do so once a day. You're on bed rest until your doctor says otherwise, I know you won't follow that rule but do try to take it easy."

"She'll follow all rules," stated the brunette, promising to make sure JJ didn't lift a finger.

"There are a few other things, but it's all written down on the discharge forms. Get better soon JJ," he said shaking both of their hands.

"can… can you help me get dressed?" asked the blonde.

Emily smiled softly at her shyness, "of course."

The older agent went in search of their go bag, smiling a little at the fact that Garcia had packed them in one bag. Both of them were quiet as Emily helped her get her clothes and shoes on, both women's cheeks flushed red at JJ's naked body. Even with the bandages and bruises Emily thought she was beautiful.

"Let's go beautiful," she said rolling a wheel chair next to bed, "hop up Jay."

The short ride to the airport had the blonde woman exhausted, "baby girl, don't even try to argue," said Morgan lifting her out of the car an into the waiting jet.

Not only was she physically tired, the dose of pain meds Emily had given her were taking effect. Derek laid her down on couch and Garcia covered her with a blanket, she wasn't able to stay conscious for the take off.

"She'll be out for a while," said Emily looking at the sleeping woman, "I need to know what we have on the others," making eye contact with Hotch, "I need to know everything."

"Like we said before almost everyone is custody or being questioned as we speak," said the unit chief.

"Wait up Hotch, almost?" asked Emily.

Dave stared at the cup of coffee in his hand, "two of them are still out there."

"Strauss wants us to get back on rotation ASAP," added Hotch, "but we'll keep looking for them."

Emily didn't want to believe what she was hearing, two of the people that had caused her JJ so much pain were still lose. _Fucking Strauss, _she said to herself, "so the kidnapping and torture of a federal agent count for nothing?" she said hotly.

"it's circumstantial," said Morgan just as upset as the brunette woman.

"Who got away?" asked Emily.

"The two in DC his half brother and his cousin," answered Garcia, "I had my eye on them, they got away while I was on my way to New Orleans, I'm sorry."

_You bet you're sorry, _thought Emily, for the first time feeling anger towards the kind analyst. "It's not you're fault babygirl, you couldn't have known," said Morgan putting his arm around her.

Emily didn't agree but she kept her mouth shut for now, "what's the plan then?" she asked crouching down by JJ.

"We wait," said Hotch, "they will resurface and when they do we'll be ready."

That wasn't the answer she wanted to hear, "I know some people," she began tracing over JJ's hand, "they can find anybody."

"No Emily, we play this one by the book," interrupted Hotch, "we will get them, and when we do I want it to be the right way."

No a single person on that plane wanted to follow the rules, they wanted the bastards caught, but all of them were aware that if something went wrong it'd by JJ's wellbeing they'd be messing with.

"Are you gonna tell her?" asked Reid quietly.

"I don't know. She'd want to know, but she'd been through so much," replied Emily.

"What if it were you Bella?" asked Rossi, "how would you feel if we kept all this from you?"

"I'd be pissed," she responded with no hesitancy.

She knew she had to tell JJ, and she would, but for right now she'd let the blonde enjoy the calmness. _I'll keep you safe Jay, _she thought, "I promise."

**Pleaseeeee R&amp;R!**


	29. Chapter 29

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 29**

It had been a week, seven days filled with silences. It had been a week of JJ not being able to be in a room by herself, it had been a week of Emily trying to comfort the broken woman.

The awkwardness of showers had worn off; the shame of cleaning her wounds was almost gone. Jennifer Jareau had learned to depend on Emily for even the smallest of tasks and Emily took that responsibility very seriously. It wasn't necessary for the younger agent to be clad in just a towel when Emily changed her dressings nor was it necessary for Emily to kiss every mark on the blonde's body. It wasn't necessary medically, but it was important to them. The tender kisses and touches grounded them, reassured them that they still had each other.

It was under the cover of night that their relationship blossomed, after the nightmares had passed, it was in the hushed conversations and the odd hand slipping under a shirt that they began to grow even closer. Only when the sun came up did JJ retreat into herself.

During the day it was only Garcia's daily phone call that managed to coax a smile or laugh out of the blonde. Emily had no idea that they were talking about her, or that Garcia was asking JJ if they'd done "it" yet. She was just grateful that she was talking to someone.

While JJ dealt with her demons Emily's focus was on catching the two men that go away. Her previous occupation had blessed her with a long list of contacts that could accomplish pretty much anything. She didn't want the two fugitives dead; no she'd take care of inflicting pain herself. All she needed was to know where they were.

Her feelings were mixed about going against a direct order from Hotch, _she's worth it, _she reassured herself, knowing that anything she did to keep JJ safe was the right thing.

It was with that last thought that she finished her morning coffee. A small smile grazed her features at JJ's slow arrival. The young agent still had a long ways to recover, but they'd gotten to the point that she could walk by herself.

"Morning, Jay," she said placing a soft a kiss on a bruised cheek.

"Hey," replied JJ, grasping Emily's hand as the brunette pulled away.

The touches were second nature now, neither of them caring that the other needed the reassurance. _It hasn't been all that bad, _thought the brunette. Yeah, there were the nightmares every night, and the moments when the pain was so overwhelming JJ couldn't even move. But they after those times came peace. They woke up in each other arms every day and slowly JJ was beginning to heal. That thought, brought another smile to her face.

"Jen, we have to leave soon, your appointment is in an hour."

Strauss had allowed JJ to recover a bit before forcing her into mandatory therapy, her first appointment being that morning, "I don't want to go," she confessed allowing Emily to help her with her jacket.

"I know that but maybe it'll help? And I'll be nearby if you want to leave," said the brunette locking the door.

She knew that the therapy was part of procedure in cases like hers, she needed to talk to somebody if she ever hoped of getting back to work, _I wish I could just talk to the team, _but that wasn't possible. Taking a deep breath she grabbed to cool handle on the door and walked in.

"Agent Jareau," greeted a short woman, stretching a welcoming hand, "I'm doctor Sarah Brook, Agent Strauss mentioned you'd be stopping by today."

The blonde agent shook the stretch out hand, as a formality. She didn't feel comfortable with this woman, _you just met her, give her a chance, _she thought taking a seat on the furthest spot away from Dr Brook. "It's nice to meet you," she said just to be polite. Human relations were engrained in her, being a media liaison had it's perks. At least she could hide behind pleasantries and formalities.

"let's get started shall we?" said the doctor taking the seat directly in front of her, "I know you've just been through a very traumatic experience…"

The rest of what the woman had been saying was lost on JJ, her mind wandered back to Will and the pain he meant, _cut to the chase, no 'how are you' or 'tell me a little about yourself.'_

"Agent?" her thoughts were interrupted, apparently she'd been longer than she thought.

"Sorry, what?" asked JJ.

"I asked you if you were ready?" that was a loaded question; the blonde agent had been toying with it for a few days now. _Am I ready?_ She knew the answer, it wasn't a simple yes or no, it was so much more. While in the basement in New Orleans se hadn't let herself think about what would happen if she survived, she was sure she was going to die. _But Emily found me, _she couldn't say that, she didn't know how to answer; she didn't know what it was that the doctor wanted to hear.

JJ heard the woman clearing her throat, pulling her away from her thoughts, "I know you probably don't want to be here, but you're going to have to talk eventually. We have another," she looked down at her watch, "fifty minutes, you can sit here or we can talk."

The younger agent was a little upset now, "I don't know what you want me to say, it was only ten days ago that I was locked in a basement being tortured," replied JJ, "how am I supposed to feel?"

"There's no right or wrong answer."

"I lost it all. I let him take everything away," continued JJ not listening to the doctor, "he fucking murdered a woman in my bed!"

The older woman wrote something down, "are you not comfortable with your current living arrangements?"

"What? If it hadn't been for Emily I'd lost my mind long ago," answered the blonde incredulously, "she's been through it all with me, the nightmares, the crying, the pain…"

"Emily? Are you referring to agent Prentiss?" asked the doctor already knowing the answer.

"Yes!"

"It is very common for victims in your situation to misinterpret feelings of gratitude as something else," she said cautiously, "some patients even call it love."

"What are you trying to say? That what I feel for Emily is not real?" she asked hotly, she was getting tired of this doctor, _I love Emily, _it just wasn't possible for her feelings to merely be confusion.

"It's very possible that you are just confused, Agent Strauss mentioned that you had been acting a bit 'friendlier' towards agent Prentiss," the therapist said bluntly, "she also mentioned something about a promotion you declined very recently."

"Ok, doctor, let me make this very clear to you, William LaMontagne messed many things in my life, he took a lot from me, but that doesn't make me confused about what I feel. Emily Prentiss is the reason I've been able to keep my sanity, she is the only thing I'm sure about. And as far as the promotion goes, I didn't want it, I love my job, I love the BAU and I have no intention of leaving my position as media liaison. I declined the job well before all of this began!" said JJ, getting ready to walk out of her appointment.

"I didn't mean to imply anything Agent, I'm just here to facilitate your life and that involves your new relationship with a woman," she spat the last word, "what would your parents think? Have you thought of that? Your team probably doesn't know yet. Jennifer you are not gay!"

_Finally the truth comes out, _she thought to herself, _of course out of the hundreds of shrinks in the bureau I get the one that has a problem with women dating women, "_I don't think we can work together doctor, I'll put in a request for a different therapist. I won't let your narrow mindedness prevent me from going getting back to my job. I've spent a great deal of time hiding and lying to the people I love, I'm not going to do that anymore. Before I leave Dr Brook, let me tell you one last thing .gay," with that JJ let the door slam behind her.

She needed Emily right now; she needed the comfort only she could offer. They'd agree to meet upstairs immediately after her appointment, checking her watch she noticed she was 35 minutes early. Not liking the idea of having to wait she preferred it to the alternative.

JJ strode pass the glass doors to the BAU, "JayJe, I thought you had an appointment?" asked Reid pulling her into a patented awkward Reid hug, "plus you shouldn't be on your feet." She was grateful he was the only one in the bullpen.

"Yeah about that… Have you seen Emily?" asked JJ avoiding the initial question.

Reid pointed to the closed door of her own office, "she had to take a call, she'd in your office. Want me to get her?"

JJ shook her head and dragged her aching body up the few stairs to her little office. Not bothering to knock she opened the door and found the older woman on the phone having a heated discussion.

"I need you to this for me Ollie," ordered the brunette.

"Em?" JJ interrupted watching the other woman tense up at the sound of her voice.

"Just try, I have to go," she hung up turning around to face the blonde, "Jay what are you doing here? Your appointment went until 11," she said, concern suddenly filling her mind, "are you ok?"

"Can we just go home?" asked JJ, her body and mind were tired. She wanted to go back to the safety of the little world they'd created.

"Sure, let's go," said Emily picking up her purse and following JJ out. She wanted to know what had happened but she knew that right now was neither the time nor the place to push the blonde.

The car was full of tension as the drove to Emily's condo, JJ wouldn't volunteer any information and the older agent didn't want to ask just yet. Several times during the thirty minute trip Emily noticed JJ's face grimace in pain.. _Her ribs are still healing, and these damn speed bumps aren't helping, _but it seemed more than just pain, at least the physical kind, The woman next to her seemed exhausted, she seemed drained.

Putting the car in park Emily watch the blonde struggle a bit trying to sit up, "just wait for me, I'll help you," she called out quickly making her way to the passenger door.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Emily settling her on the couch.

"I'm gay Emily," said the blonde.

"We'll I kinda figured or at least I hoped," said the brunette with a small smile.

"My therapist didn't like that, I'm done hiding, and I'm done lying. I love you and I'm not confused!" she finished wincing at a shooting pain from her ribs.

Emily couldn't understand what JJ had meant by that last statement; she didn't know what had brought this on but she was going to find out, "Wait a sec. I know that Jen, what the hell happened?"

The younger agent shook her head, "the doctor told me that I was just confused about my feelings for you and that is very typical of victims in my situation, God Em I wanted to walk out! She asked me what my parents would think about me having a relationship with a woman? After everything that's happened that would be the least of their concerns! I thought I was going there to talk about what happened in New Orleans but all she could focus on was my relationship with you and how wrong everything was, I can't do this right now. I just want to get in bed and forget her and Strauss and everything else."

The older agent felt a very familiar anger rising, "I know you're not confused sweetheart, I know that. She had no right to say those things to you!" she said pulling JJ closer, "we'll find a different doctor and both her and Strauss will get a piece of my mind."

JJ nodded into Emily's shoulder, basking in the presence of the other woman, she was like a balm soothing all her pain.

"Who were you talking to in my office?" she changed the topic.

Emily had hoped JJ wouldn't ask, she didn't want to tell her about Will's accomplices on the loose or the fact that she had contacted a friend to help her track them down. But she couldn't hide it anymore, the woman in her arms deserved to know.

"Jen, we need to talk about something's," said Emily pressing her lips on the blonde's head, "two of them got away."

The older agent didn't have to elaborate any further, JJ knew exactly what she was talking about, "who?" asked JJ, her world once again spinning into the fear and uncertainty she had been so accustomed with.

"Will's contacts here in Quantico, our main concern is his half brother, he was the one feeding him all the Intel on the team," she ran a soothing hand up and down JJ's arm.

Silence proceeded the conversation, both women lost in their thoughts, Emily searching for a way to tell her about her plan and JJ reliving her captivity with William LaMontagne.

**Pleaseeeee R&amp;R!**


	30. Chapter 30

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 30**

"What do you mean by 'your leave has been revoked?" asked Emily standing toe to toe with Agent Strauss, shaking an official document.

"It means exactly what it says, your paid leave of absence has been revoked, you are expected to be back at work on Tuesday," said the Director, leaving the office.

"Oh Strauss, you do not want to cross this line," muttered the younger woman, making her way to Hotch's office, _it's not a good time to be on my bad side._

Not even bothering to knock, Emily threw Aaron Hotchner's door open, "Hotch, we have a big problem," he was slightly taken aback, "Strauss is playing a dangerous game, first with the damn shrink and now this!" she said, throwing the small stack of papers at his desk.

His eyes softened when he saw the documents, the reprimand on the tip of his tongue disappeared, "Emily, close the door," he said sending a text alerting the rest of his team, "I had no idea she was planning this."

"God knows I needed this time, she's struggling, I need to be able to be there," she said barely above a whisper.

He nodded, understanding, "we'll figure this out, you will be there. What did you say about a shrink?"

_Don't even get me started, _she thought, "I… she… you know Jayje and I are…" Hotch looked at her expectantly.

_C'mon Prentiss, just spit it out_, "I'm not sure what to call this thing that I have with her. But I love her and I'm pretty sure she loves me and I know we haven't discussed things, but it feels like a relationship and I want it to be a relationship so I guess it's r relationship, and she might not be ready now, but I can wait, I mean she needs time right? After everything that's happened? How was it that you put it? Dynamics. Yes the dynamics. The dynamic has changed, but it's so much more than that and…" she rambled, Hotch's typical stone face shone amusement.

"Emily, I'm certain you didn't barge into my office to tell me all this," the agent's cheeks were flushed a deep shade of red, not realizing she'd poured all her thoughts to her boss.

"Right no, sorry. Yesterday Jay had her first session with Dr Brook," he nodded, "and that woman had a problem with the 'relationship' I have with Jayje and she made her personal opinions known!"

"What are you talking about? Strauss assured me that Dr Brook was the best in her field," he was feeling the beginning of a headache forming.

The brunette woman shook her head, a sarcastic chuckle escaping her lips, "I don't think it's just Dr Brook that has a problem with us, Strauss doesn't seem to very accepting either."

"I'll handle this," he said, "both of these problems."

"Thank you," she said walking out of his office.

He watched her leave, hearing the door click behind her. His hand searched for his phone, sending a quick text he dialed Director Strauss' number. This would be taken care of immediately.

"Erin, we need to talk," he said pushing away the file he had been looking over before Emily barged in his office.

"Yes it concerns two of my agents," he paused listening to her response, "see you in ten minutes."

Just as the call ended his door opened again this time it revealed Dave Rossi, "what can I do for you?" asked the Italian.

"We're going to meet with Strauss, she has taken a dislike for the new developments between Emily and JJ," he stood from his chair, "and you are going to help me convince her otherwise."

Rossi just nodded and followed his chief out the door, "how'd you find out?"

The brisk pace of the two men portrayed the urgency of their task, "Prentiss' leave has been revoked and JJ's therapist shares the Director's opinions."

The older man reflectively flexed his fist, "I see."

They arrived in the Director's conference room early, but apparently so had she. "Agent Hotchner, I do believe this meeting was between the two of us," she said looking at Rossi.

"I was in the neighborhood," replied Rossi taking a seat.

"Erin, you are going to listen to me on this, and listen well," began Hotch, "what you are doing isn't right."

"And what they are doing is right?" interrupted the woman, "I needed to put a stop to it."

"You realize that Agent Jareau just went through something horrific and you are taking away her lifeline. C'mon Strauss, you know this is wrong," added Rossi, quickly defending his team.

"It isn't proper, it isn't right," she said, "even Dr Brook agrees, that's why I assigned her to Agent Jareau. Can't you both see that I just want what's best for her? She's confused."

"It's not for you or anybody else to decide what is right. JJ's been through enough, I will not allow anybody else to harm her in anyway, and that includes you," he said taking the chair next to Dave.

"Aaron are you forgetting that I am your supervisor? I will do whatever I think is necessary," she concluded, baffled by his bold words.

"You will not. Erin come to your senses, this is wrong," said Rossi lowering his voice, "would you have done the same if it had been Agent Morgan with Agent Jareau?"

The Director kept her mouth shut, she knew things would've been different then.

She was on the wrong side of argument, she knew these two men would protect their team above everything else, she didn't doubt that. But none of it changed the fact that she was their boss, _I am the Director of the BAU, _she would not stand for this.

She hesitated for half a second, "Agent Hotchner, Agent Rossi don't forget your place. What is done is done and you have no right to question me about it. Let the matter drop," the two profilers did not miss the hesitance in her voice.

"Erin if you'd like I could bring back a couple skeletons in your closet," Rossi said angrily, both Hotch and Strauss raised an eyebrow at the threat.

Encouraged by the older man's boldness Hotch proceeded, "Director Strauss I will not let the matter drop, neither will the team. If you want to keep your career I'd advise you to listen to me. You can either have ALL of our resignations by the end of the day, and your face plastered the front page of every newspaper," he saw fear in the director's eyes, "or you can back the hell off."

"Is that a threat?" she asked, confident of his bluff.

"When you threaten my team you become the enemy," Rossi nodded in support, "I need know your decision now Director."

For the first time in her life Erin Strauss was at a loss for everything, she didn't know what to do or say. She knew Dave well enough, he had more than enough on her to end her career, "do I have a choice?"

"You always have a choice Erin. It's the beauty of life you get to decide your fate," said Rossi.

"Aright Aaron, what do you want?" she asked in defeat. She'd lost the battle, but this was far from over.

"I will supervise Agent Jareau's recovery, I will assign her a therapist. Agent Prentiss will go back on her leave until I feel she needs to come back. You will not interfere with my team's personal lives. You will receive reports on all our cases and unless there is a discrepancy with our work you will not interfere. I guarantee the new team 'dynamics' will not affect our performance," he said not leaving her room to question or even speak.

"Dr Brook will receive a formal reprimand for discrimination and you will conduct an investigation. No one else will suffer the same treatment JJ received," his eyes never moved away from her icy orbs. He knew this was a little extreme, but what she had done was unforgivable.

Director Strauss felt like a rookie agent all over again, getting reprimanded by a supervisor. She knew her career was in jeopardy if she didn't agree. It was with that thought that she nodded her head in defeat.

Both profilers stoop up in unison, "Aaron, I'm still your boss," voiced the broken woman, more as an after thought than anything else.

"I know," he replied before exiting the room.

_This is not over, _thought the director watching the door close in front of her.

-o-

_"Emily, I found him."_

"Give me the location," said the brunette, holding tightly on to her phone.

_"He'll be back in DC in a month."_

"Where is he now?" she asked getting annoyed.

_"I have to go, I'll be in contact in four weeks. Be ready."_

The line went dead, "Damn it Ollie!" she said cursing the man on the other end. _A month to plan, _she thought deciding whether or not to tell the team.

The shrill ring of the device in her hands startled her, "Prentiss," she answered.

"Em? Are you ready to go? Garcia will only release me to your custody," said JJ, a smile clear in her voice.

It was that smile she was fighting for, she'd make sure the blonde never would have to look over her shoulder again. Every monster involved will be caught, "Emily? Are you there?" asked the younger agent, slight concern marking her happy voice.

"Yeah, let's get you home Jay," said the brunette walking towards Garcia's domain.

**Please R&amp;R!**


	31. Chapter 31

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 31**

Hotch had arranged for one of his personal colleagues to counsel JJ. Even though the blonde had been reluctant Emily had finally convinced her to give it a try.

Dr. Ramirez was nothing like Dr. Brook, he was kind and understanding and although he focused on the 'incident,' he told her that her new relationship with Emily had to be talked about. She owed it to herself and her partner.

"I have nightmares, not every night, but they're there," she confessed looking down at her hands, "ever since I found out about the one of the got away, I can't seem to function very well."

The first thing she noticed about the doctor had been his eyes, they were a light brown, full of kindness and understanding, that alone had been enough to make feel comfortable. "That's out of your control, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this from happening. Do you not feel safe?" asked the kind man.

"I don't know, I felt safe before and then…" her eyes filled with tears, "what if he finds me? Or what if he hurts the team to get to me? What if he hurts Emily?"

"Those are very valid questions, yet they're unknowns. We don't know for certain that he even is looking for you," she nodded, "The nightmares will eventually go away once you begin to heal emotionally, now the nightmare you are living everyday, that one is up to you. All those questions are eating at you, while they are important, they can't dictate how you live," he said.

"I know, and I know Emily will be with me, and the team too. The probability of something happening again is very little. But it's so hard to stop thinking about it."

"Let's focus on something else. Something that'll help you when you begin to think about it," he suggested.

"How is everything at home?" he asked gently.

JJ took a minute with this question, "I don't have a home," she replied, not realizing she'd said it out loud.

"I mean I don't have my own home. I haven't been back to my apartment since…" she couldn't finish the sentence.

"You haven't been to back to your apartment since LaMontagne committed the crime there," he wanted to be sensitive to her memories, but she needed to acknowledge what had happened.

"Yeah, I've been staying with Emily," she said knowing that the doctor already knew this.

"Is that a problem?" he asked softly.

"No, not at all she great, more than great, she's perfect," JJ replied quickly, "she's helped me a lot. I'm just worried. What if she gets sick of me? I know we're together," she implied their relationship, "but all I do is cry or wake up screaming in the middle of the night. I want to do more with her, I mean my body reacts to hers, but my mind just shuts down."

It felt good to be able to talk to someone, "I want to take the next step. But I'm broken, I'm damaged."

The doctor had discarded his note pad long ago. The appointment had technically ended twenty minutes ago but he felt they were on to something. The blonde in front of him just kept talking, so he kept listening.

"Why don't you let her decide what she can handle and what she can't," he said.

JJ pondered on that for a bit, "everything happened so fast. I get home one night to Will sleeping in my couch, next thing I know I'm holding onto Emily like my life depends on it. My life was falling apart and it was her that kept me together."

"Did you have feelings for her before him?" he asked not wanting to trigger her by saying his name.

_Did I? _she asked herself. Her mind wandered back to the first time she'd met the brunette, _she looked so beautiful that day_. She thought about the all the cases they had worked together, she'd always felt a little more protective over the older woman, _she was always the one I looked for first, _"maybe? I guess looking back there was something there, I just didn't know what it was."

Dr. Ramirez noticed JJ's silence, "Are you ok with that?"

"I am," she answered, "now I am."

A small smile grazed the young man's face, "I have a little homework for you," he said looking down at his watch.

"What kind of homework?" asked the blonde.

"Well let me ask you something first. When is your next appointment with your doctor?" he said quickly scribbling something in his notes.

"In a week," she replied quizzically.

"JJ I'm going to clear you to go back to work," a huge smile filled her face, "under one condition. We have to continue the sessions for a while longer; I need you to come in once a week for the next month. You seem to have a good support system and if you get cleared medically it'll do you good to get back to work. By no means does this mean you are ok, but you are well enough to get back to the BAU," he said walking back to his desk.

"We have a long road ahead of us, but you'll make it," he continued with a confident smile, "I am clearing you also with the confidence that you'll go to Emily or someone in your team when you're struggling."

JJ's smiled faltered a bit with the last statement; she didn't want to bother them. But after talking to Dr. Ramirez she felt better, better than she'd felt in a long time. She felt lighter, happier. Making a vow she promised to be more open with Emily, about everything.

"Now about the homework," he'd been oblivious to JJ's pause, "I want you to go on a date with Emily. You probably won't go out, but order some food, talk, relax and see where the night leads. Don't push yourself to do anything, just trust yourself and trust her. I think you're ready for more than what you think."

The agent's cheeks flushed red at his words, surprisingly she was smiling, _a date sounds nice, _she thought to herself. For the first time her eyes noticed the clock on the wall, "Oh god, has it really been two hours already?" she asked, "I'm sorry for taking so much of your time doctor."

"Don't worry about JJ, I had the rest of the morning open, plus I think we've made much progress today," he said smiling, "but I do think you have somebody waiting for you outside," he looked at a text sent by his receptionist saying that there was an agent pacing back and forth in the waiting room.

"Thank you again, for everything," whispered the blonde before heading out.

The first thing in her line of sight was a very stressed out Emily Prentiss, pacing the room. The brunette hadn't noticed her partner's presence, "Em," said the blonde slowly making her way to the older agent.

"Jay, I waited for you upstairs, but you never came and I had Garcia run a trace on your phone and she told me you were still in the building. It had been half an hour already so I came down and the receptionist told me you were still in with the doctor. You scared me; I was so worried something had happened. I even talked to Hotch, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make such a big deal, but it's like I can't think rationally when I think you might be in trouble. Are you ok? Did everything go ok? Was he nice?" Emily stopped only because she had run out of breath.

JJ smiled at her companion, stretching a little bit to kiss the brunette's pouty lips, "I'm fine, everything went great, he is a good doctor. Would you go on a date with me?"

The profiler was registering the answers, filing them away the "JJ" box in her mind, but her relief was short lived, her heart stopped beating for a second when she heard the last question.

"What was that?" she asked wanting to make sure she heard correctly.

"Would you go on a date with me Emily?" asked the blonde, "I mean we won't go out to a restaurant or anything like that, but tonight let's do something special."

"Aright, we can do that," answered the older woman, deciding to ask questions later, "Since we're done for the day, how about we head home and get an early start on this date?" _she'll talk to me when she's ready._

The younger agent smiled and took her hand guiding them out and into the garage.

The thirty minute drive had been silent, both women too preoccupied with their own thoughts. Emily thought back to the conversation she'd had with Morgan earlier that morning.

_"Hey Princess, where's blondie?" asked Morgan. He was the only team member sitting in the bullpen. _

_"Hi, she had an appointment this morning," replied Emily taking a seat at her own desk. Her mind had been toying with an idea lately. She was going to need help bringing John Smith down, and although she trusted team, she shared a special connection with Morgan. The other profiler noticed Emily's preoccupied face._

_"Is everything ok?" he asked turning his chair to face the brunette._

_She nodded, still trying to decide what to say, "let's go get some coffee," she said suddenly, pulling him up with her._

_"Sure," he shrugged._

_They walked to a small coffee shop across the street from the BAU. Morgan was being patient, he knew something was up, but he'd only find out when Emily was ready to share. Two large coffees later Emily began, "Smith is going to be back in DC in three weeks," she said quickly._

_"What? How do you know?" he asked._

_"I had someone track him down," she took a sip of her coffee, "I'm going to need your help."_

_He thought about it for a minute, not really surprised she'd gone against Hotch's orders, he would've done the same, "I'm in princess, just tell me what to do."_

"Em?" a warm hand covered hers effectively pulling her away from her thoughts.

"Yeah?" she replied, venturing a quick look at the woman next to her. It was then that she noticed that they had made it home.

Back at doctor's office JJ had made a silent promise, _I'm going to let her help me, _it went against her very nature, usually she was the one helping others. Right now she was feeling pretty terrible, skipping her pain medication this morning had not been a good idea.

"I'm not feeling very well, could you maybe… help me?" she asked whispering the last part. This was a big step for JJ, she had let Emily help her in the past, but only with things she couldn't do. She had felt this same pain a million times before but always kept quiet. The older woman was surprised by the request, surprised but pleased.

"Yeah, stay there I'll go around and help you out," said the profiler. Once both women were settled on the couch, they knew they had to talk.

"You know you don't have to tell me anything, right?" began Emily.

"I know, but I want to," she tried to reassure her, "He cleared me to go back to work, as long as I continue the sessions," Emily cringed at this.

"He might have cleared you but are you ready?" she asked not wanting to upset her partner.

"I don't know, he said told me that I need to be able to come to you when I have a bad day, and the team too," she looked away, "I mentioned that I was scared you'd get sick of me."

Not even a second after the words left her lips Emily knelt in front of her, "I'm not going to get sick of you sweetheart, I promise."

"I know that now, he helped me realize a couple things," she smiled, "I told him about the nightmares, I just feel better after talking to him."

"That's great Jay," she kissed her hands.

"Em, I'm going to tell you something but please don't take it the wrong way," the profiler schooled her features to not show any of the worry she was feeling inside.

"I don't have a home, I mean I haven't been back to…" she didn't have to say anymore, Emily understood.

"Are you not happy here?" she had to ask.

"No, no, Emily, I'm very happy here. I was just worried that you might not be," she pulled away from the older woman.

"What?" Emily was taken aback, "I'm very happy Jen, I… the circumstances might have not been ideal, but I want you here in my home, our home. If you want we can go to your old apartment and pick up a couple of your things to put here."

"Yeah I know that now, I think I should go back at least to see it, but I'm scared. Last time I was there I had a panic attack," she ran her hand over the brunette's cheek, "I just don't want to be a burden."

"Jennifer, you're not a burden, far from it, I promise," said Emily.

JJ nodded and laid back on the couch, pulling the other woman next to her, "there's one more thing Em."

"What's that?" asked the brunette.

"I talked about you, I told him things I couldn't tell you," she tried to pull away, but Emily held on.

"What kind of things?" she asked.

"I want to be able to do more with you, you know physically…"

Emily was taken aback by this confession, of course she had thought about that aspect of their relationship, but she was content with waiting until the blonde had healed and was ready, "are you sure?" she asked.

"I don't know Em, I want to be. At least I want to try and see where it goes," replied JJ.

"Is this what the date is about?" asked Emily smiling.

"Yeah, Dr Ramirez said it'd be good if we just stopped thinking about everything for a night and just see where things led," she wasn't sure what Emily would think about her talk with the doctor.

Emily smiled at the blonde woman's concern; "Aright, why don't you take a nap first and we'll continue this conversation and our date tonight," JJ droopy eyes gave away how tired she was.

"Will you lay with me?" she asked shyly. This wasn't the first time they'd shared a bed, but the conversation had made things much more intimate. Everything in their routine ceased to be mundane, the simple act of the helping JJ take off her shoes held a sexual under tone.

Gently pulling the blonde closer she wedged her leg in between JJ's, "Sweet dreams," she said kissing the back of her neck.

JJ turned around in her arms, blue eyes full of excitement, "can I try something?" Seeing the mischief in her companion's face Emily swallowed and nodded.

The media liaison leaned closer to Emily, placing a light kiss on her lips. Just as the brunette's brain began to register what was happening the lips kissing her moved to her jaw, and onto her neck.

There was something endearing about JJ's delicacy and shyness, the way her warm breath woke certain parts of Emily's anatomy, "Jay," she whispered, snaking a hand under the younger agent's shirt, she needed to feel more skin.

She could feel JJ smiling against her sensitive skin, obviously satisfied by the reaction, "As much as I'm enjoying this you're going to need to stop soon," said the brunette caressing JJ's back.

"I don't want to stop," declared the younger agent.

"You need to rest sweetheart, I promise tonight we'll pick up where we left off. I need you to be awake if we're going to do this. I want you to remember it," JJ felt Emily kissing her eyelids, "rest now, I'll be right here the whole time."

JJ knew she should wait until tonight, but there was something so utterly intoxicating about the other woman, it was almost impossible to pull away, "I love you Em," she whispered half asleep.

"I love you too Jay," Emily replied, pulling the blonde even closer in her embrace.

It was many hours later that the couple woke up. Lulled by the warmth of their bodies neither woman wanted to get up.

"Let's just stay here Em, a date in bed!" giggled the blonde burring her head on the crook of Emily's neck.

"I don't know about that, how about we order some food and then come back to bed," suggested the brunette.

With a playful huff JJ disentangled herself from Emily releasing her to make the phone call and order the food. She took the next few minutes to check her phone, "I didn't even hear it ring," she mumbled noticing a few missed calls; two from Hotch and one from Garcia.

Her fingers dialed the number she had so long ago memorized, "Hotch."

_"JJ, I'm sorry to bother you this evening."_

"It's no problem, what can I do for you?" asked the blonde sitting up in the bed.

_"I got a report from Dr. Ramirez. While he still has some concerns it seems that he cleared you to come back to work."_

"Yeah, he told me earlier," she replied.

_"I know him personally and I also know that if he had any concerns about your performance he wouldn't have done this. I just need to know what you think. Are you ready to come back full time?"_

This was how Hotch shows he cares, he would have never called her just out of blue to see how she was, Dr. Ramirez gave him the perfect excuse, "I'll be ok Hotch, I need to keep my mind busy, going back to work will help me."

_"Jennifer, I want you to know that if you ever need to talk my door will always be open for you."_

She smiled at his unusual gentle tone, "I know Hotch, thank you."

_"We'll get them, I promise you."_

She was well aware that the team was simultaneously working her case as well as all their consults, it was only a matter of time, they were, after all, the best at what they do, "Thank you."

_"Have a good night, see you both on Monday."_

That's how Emily found her, clutching her phone, "who was that?" she asked.

"Hotch, he got the report form Dr Ramirez," her smiled got bigger, "we're going back to work on Monday!"

Emily was happy, she truly was, but she couldn't help the wave of disappointment that filled her. She had gotten used to the little world they had created, she would miss spending her days with the younger agent.

"Hey I'll still be coming home with you at the end of each day, don't be too disappointed," it never ceased to amaze her, how JJ could practically read her mind.

"Food will be here in about half an hour, let me draw you a bath while we wait," she wanted the blonde to relax. If tonight would be _the_ night, she wanted everything to go perfectly.

"Ok, that sounds nice," _I need time to think, _she said to herself, liking the idea of some alone time in the tub.

She was pulled away from her musings by Emily, "Jay your bath is ready."

Her ribs protested as she stood too quickly, the lingering pain was still there when she walked in the bathroom, "are you aright?" asked the brunette closing the distance between them.

"Yeah, I got up too fast," she expected Emily to walk out now; she was surprised when she felt a pair of hands expertly unbuttoning her shirt. Whatever she was about to say never made it out of her mouth. Instead she concentrated on the delicate path Emily's hands were making across her torso, never touching anything too intimate, but close enough to make the blonde dizzy with need.

Those same hands caressed her lower abdomen, before reaching for the button of her pants. Her brown eyes never wandered away from her blue gaze, slowly, _so very slowly, _did the brunette slide JJ's pants down her hips and to the floor.

Suddenly JJ felt herself being held flush up against the other woman. That was just a diversion; Emily's hands quickly unclasped her bra, leaving her standing in just her underwear.

"You're so beautiful," whispered the older woman, for the first time allowing herself to look at the body in front of her. There were still many bruises and cuts in various stages of healing, but she saw past that, she saw Jennifer Jareau standing naked in front of her.

Emily thought herself an educated woman, someone who had seen many beautiful things all over the world, but right now in her bathroom, looking at JJ she was certain she had the most beautiful being on earth.

"I love you Jay," she said dropping a kiss on the media liaison's cheek. Her hands taking care of the last piece of clothing on the younger woman's body, "let's get you in the tub before the water gets cold."

JJ's brain had stopped functioning, she could feel what was happening, but she couldn't react. Emily had seen her naked many times before, but this moment held a level of intimacy that neither of them had experienced before.

It was there that the younger agent remembered she was a hot-blooded woman, standing naked in front of an equally hot-blooded Emily. No matter how much her mind was screaming at her to kiss the profiler, her body wouldn't move. At least not until Emily started to guide her closer to the tub.

"Just relax Jay, I'll come get you when the food is here," with one last loving kiss the brunette was gone.

_Oh my god, _finally gathering enough mental faculties to form a coherent thought she let out a soft chuckle, _she wants me, _it had been a fear of hers, one she hadn't shared with anyone. Would Emily want her when she saw her broken body? _She does, _her mind answered reassuring her before she had a chance to doubt.

Soft jazz music floated into the bathroom; _she's so perfect, _she said to herself. _What if I'm not good? _It had been a long time since she had "made love" to anyone, and never to a woman. _What if I can't do this?_

_It's Emily, she'll be with you the entire time, _her mind tried to assuage her nerves. Behind closed eyes, the images that greeted her featured Will forcing her onto a bed, _she's not like him. _It had always been quick with him; _it was all about his needs._

_She loves you, _her mind tried again; _she doesn't expect you to be perfect._

At the peak of her panic and doubt a memory came to mind. It had been about a week ago in the middle of the night; JJ woke up from a particularly bad nightmare. Emily of course woke up immediately, while sobs consumed the young blonde, the profiler kept repeating, "I'll always take care of you."

"Food's here Jay," came a voice.

"I'll be right out," she called back. In those two seconds she made up her mind, _tonight I'll let you love me, I won't shut you out, I'll take care of you. _

The woman in question greeted her on the other side of the door wearing a lopsided smile and holding a glass of wine to her, "have a good bath?"

"Very insightful," replied the blonde, gratefully taking a sip of the crimson liquid, "ready for our date?"

"I've been ready for a long time, Jay," she replied, starting the slow trek to the living room.

"I love you Emily Prentiss," whispered the blonde before following her partner out the door.

**R&amp;R Pleaseeee!**


	32. Chapter 32

**R&amp;R Pleaseeee!**

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 32**

The walls began to cave in around her, the pain in her chest got stronger and she noticed the erratic pattern of her breathing, _not again._ JJ had experienced these feelings once before, Rossi said it'd been a panic attack.

Just a few hours ago, the two women had shared an incredibly intimate moment and had agreed to take things to next level; it was hard to believe that all of that had happened today, in this same bathroom. It felt like a lifetime ago.

Jennifer Jareau was very aware of her surroundings and of the profiler pounding on the door. But right now none of that matter, her mind had betrayed her; by bringing up the fear of what had happened long ago in the foremost of her thoughts. _Thump, thump, _the pounding on the door never ceased and neither did the voice calling her name.

It had been her idea and at the time it seemed like a good one. But instead of feeling the satisfaction and bliss that usually followed sex, she was reliving her worst memories, the ones she hid away in a darkest corner of her mind. She was reliving things she'd never shared with one and until now had managed to keep away.

How could she even dare to compare the two? Will had always been rough and hurtful; Emily was the complete opposite. _I though I could handle it,_ she ran a shaking hand through her hair.

"Jennifer, open the door," begged Emily.

But JJ couldn't answer, even if she had wanted to, she couldn't make a sound. Ignoring the pleading profiler she concentrated on the cool tile bellow her. It was something tangible, something real, something to ground her. Her mind was too far-gone, lost with the ghosts of her past. The room in front of her began to fade, gone was visage of Emily's home, replaced by her own. The one place she never wanted to return to.

_"I've been wannin' to do this all day," his southern twang made more pronounced by the alcohol he'd been drinking._

_A calloused hand roughly shoved her on the bed; making quick work on the buttons of her shirt, managing to unbutton a few, ripping out the rest, "just sit still Cher," he said, frustration evident in his demeanor. As an FBI agent JJ had been taught to fight when in danger, she was hard-wired to go against her flight instincts. She fought him every time; she fidgeted trying to get away. But he'd always been too strong and she'd always been too weak. It really wasn't conscious thing; her body couldn't help it, she automatically jerked away from his touch. _

_"Don't pretend you don't want it."_

_He never kissed her, didn't even look at her. It was always about his satisfaction, always about his pleasure. The second he situated himself on top, her eyes desperately searched for the clock on the nightstand, wishing for the next few minutes to go by faster. Of course they never did. It was his moaning that alerted her he'd finished; unceremoniously he rolled off her leaving her exposed and drenched in his sweat. This time he'd hurt her, she knew that along with his sweat and semen, was her own blood._

_Grimacing she stood up, the pain in between her legs was a vivid reminder of what had transpired. "I'm going to take a shower," her only response was a groan. JJ quickly made her way to the shower needing to wash away any evidence of him._

_Hot water pounded over her back, washing away his sweat. But never leaving her "clean." No matter how much she scrubbed and washed she still felt dirty. It only took a glance at the drain to know that she was still bleeding. The stream of water flowing was pink, tinged as it mixed with the blood dripping down her thighs. Right now she couldn't do much about it, she'd deal with it in the morning. That night she laid awake, as far away from Will as her bed would allow, clutching her cell phone to her chest and toying with the idea of calling for help. She never called._

On some level Jennifer knew that it wasn't rational to behave this way, but that small part of her brain was silenced by her sympathetic nervous system flooding her body with adrenaline. That flashback had felt too real; she sat paralyzed by the images playing in her mind.

"Jay I'm about to kick this door in," Emily said frustration and concern leaked from her words, "please, just open up, I need to know you're ok."

_I can't, _thought the blonde. Once again becoming aware of the pain in her chest, and her ragged breathing. The black and white walls of Emily's bathroom began to fade morphing into her once familiar bedroom.

_"JayJay, wake up. I gotta ask you somethin'" he said shaking her awake._

_"I'm up Will, what do you want?" she couldn't hide the irritation in her voice. He pulled his hand away immediately as if he'd been burned. _

_"Now that's no way to talk to me," cursing silently JJ turned to look at him_

_"I'm sorry," her eyes filled with remorse, "I wasn't thinking."_

_She wanted to smile at the look on his face, his eyes softened as if he'd understood, "you never seem to do a lot of thinking," he whispered, making her tense up at his unspoken threat._

_Kissing her neck he whispered, "Why don't you show me how sorry you are," there was no need for further explanation, his silent request had been clear._

_That night had gone like many others. Except that tonight she had no one but herself to blame._

"JayJe, I'm coming in," JJ didn't react at the statement. Cracking the door open, Emily looked inside, finding the young agent sitting against the wall. Each sob that escaped the liaison's mouth broke Emily's heart. _Oh Jen, _thought the older agent unsure of how to proceed.

_"_Jay, it's me Emily," she said before sitting next to her, "you're safe here, I promise no one will hurt you."

Emily had no idea what kind of demons JJ was battling. She could venture a few educated guesses, all of them made her want to kill William LaMontange. _I pushed her too far, she wasn't ready._

Tentatively she reached out, wanting to take the younger woman's shaking hand in hers. She wanted to show her that she was there, emotionally and physically. Gaining a little more confidence when the blonde didn't pull away, she whispered, "Come back to me," wanting nothing more than to erase all the pain.

It was Emily's voice that snapped the blonde out her thoughts, a pair of teary blue eyes settled on her, JJ's expression was a mix of pain, sadness, and surprise as if she hadn't noticed the brunette sitting next to her, "Emily?" she asked.

The young woman's heart shattered a little more when she remembered what had happened earlier, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she cried, wanting to go back in time.

_So far their "date" had been great, food had been eaten, and they were half way down a bottle of great wine. JJ was nervous but giddy with anticipation. With a little liquid encouragement she'd let her eyes wander over the brunette's body knowing that in a few moments she'd get to see everything that her clothes covered._

_"Jay, you're staring," Emily said with a bemused smile._

_ "I'm sorry," blushing she quickly adverted her eyes._

_"Hey, I don't mind," replied the profiler, "you can stare at me any time."_

_The younger woman grinned at Emily's comment, silently promising to do just that. It was that promise that guided the course of her thoughts, thoughts that would've made even Garcia blush. The younger woman was startled from her reprieve by Emily, she hadn't noticed the profiler move, and jumped when the brunette stood in front of her offering a hand._

_"It's getting late," she pulled the blonde up off the couch, "how about we go to bed?"_

_Her eyes widened at the request, "I mean, we don't have to anything, we could just talk or sleep," she added, not wanting JJ to feel uncomfortable._

_"No," JJ replied, "I want to, let's go to bed."_

_ "Jennifer, look at me," requested the brunette, as they reached the bedroom, "I don't want you to feel pressured into doing anything you're not comfortable with, I don't need sex, we can wait," she said earnestly, trying to make the blonde understand. _

_"I know, I want to do this with you, I want to make love to you," promised the younger woman. _

_Emily nodded, pulling JJ closer to the bed, "aright, but stop me at any time. Promise me Jennifer, that you'll tell me to stop if you feel uncomfortable," she begged._

_The magnitude of what they were about to do was finally sinking in, she was scared and nervous but right now there was nothing that could stop her from smiling at the taller woman. Placing a small hand on Emily's shoulders she pushed the profiler to sit on the bed. Now it was the Emily that had to look up. JJ's smile never faltered as she walked in between the profiler's legs, "I promise Emily," she said closing the small gap between their lips._

_Hurried fingers reached for Emily's shirt, "let's take our time," asked the brunette taking JJ's hands in hers, "I want this to last."_

_The younger agent nodded willing her body to slow down. It was then, when the only garments left were bras and panties, that JJ's excitement was overpowered by her nervousness. For the first time that night JJ's smiled failed to convince the older woman, "are you sure?" asked Emily sensing the shift in the mood._

_JJ didn't trust her voice, instead she used a kiss to confirm her desires and that was all Emily needed to know. The brunette responded to the soft lips kissing her, becoming aware of her own desire. It was a fight for dominance as their tongues battled. Emily broke the kiss grinning at the blonde's confused look she placed a trail of feather light kisses from her belly to her chest stopping where the fabric of her bra began. Brown eyes met blue searching for any sign of hesitation, finding none she proceeded to snake a hand behind the younger woman to unclasp JJ's bra._

_JJ was surprised by the adoration she saw in Emily's eyes, any doubts the blonde might've had were now gone. Meanwhile the brunette was thinking among those same lines, planning to worship and love every inch of this woman's body._

_It was only when the profiler reached to remove the last piece of clothing that JJ froze._

_"I… I can't," she stammered running to the bathroom._

"I'm so sorry Emily," JJ couldn't stop crying.

"Shhhh," now confident she wouldn't spook the younger agent Emily put her arms around her, "it's ok Jay, it's ok."

It was at that precise moment that Emily's phone rang, any other time she would've chucked the thing out the window and concentrated on her crying partner. _Ollie, _she thought recognizing the ringtone. _I have to answer; _in one quick swoop she picked up the liaison and headed for the bed.

"I'll be right back Jen," she kissed her forehead.

She picked up the ringing phone and walked to her living room, "Ollie, you better have something."

_"Emily, he'll be in Virginia tomorrow, I'll have somebody tailing him."_

"I thought we had more time?" question the agent.

_"So did I, how do you want me to proceed? Have you contacted Jared yet?"_

"I'll call you tomorrow, 10am. We'll talk then. Keep your eyes on the target," she ended the call.

When she walked back in to the bedroom JJ was still in the same spot she'd left her, "come to bed Em," she requested. Willingly Emily obliged,_ tomorrow we'll talk, _she told herself before shutting off the light and pulling the blonde closer to her. Both women were too exhausted to do anything other than sleep, but the way they held each other clearly showed a deeper level of intimacy.

"I'm sorry Em," JJ whispered, "I don't know what happened."

"It's ok sweetheart," replied Emily kissing the younger woman, "I'm not going anywhere, I love you. We'll figure everything out."

**Pleeeeeeease R&amp;R!**


	33. Chapter 33

**I don't own Criminal Minds! Hope you enjoy!**

**Chapter 33**

"Morgan, there's been a change, our target is on the move today," Emily whispered.

"What? Ok, what's the plan?"

"We find him and take him down," she answered, hoping Morgan wouldn't ask any more questions.

"Take him down? Princess we need to follow at least some of the rules."

She shook her head; "We'll take him into custody Morgan, I'm not planning on murdering anyone today. Just meet me here in an hour."

Not giving him a chance to reply she ended the call. Morgan on the other hand just stared at his phone with concern. _She never said to keep it to myself, _he thought hitting number three on his speed dial.

"Hotchner," answered the unit chief.

"Hotch we have a case," he pause for a second, "or big problem on our hands."

The older agent didn't ask any details, he trusted Morgan implicitly. Exchanging meeting points and times he promised to have the entire team at the location with in 45 minutes.

"Oh and Hotch, I'll call Emily," said the black man before hanging up.

_Emily just let us help, _he thought before calling the entire BAU.

-o-

The young agent woke up to an empty bed, "Em?" she called.

There was a voice coming from the bathroom, _she's probably on her phone. _Before the blonde could get out of bed to investigate Emily opened the door and joined her on the bed.

"Good morning beautiful," said the profiler planting a kiss on her sleepy lips.

"Em I'm so sorry about last night, I…" she was silenced by another kiss.

Cupping the blonde's cheek Emily pulled away, "don't worry Jen, it's ok. If you want we can talk about it tonight."

JJ could only nod resting her forehead against Emily's, "are you going out?" she asked noticing the brunette's attire.

"Yeah, I have to run some errands," giving her another kiss, "will you be ok by yourself? Do you want me to call Garcia?" asked the brunette taking a hold of the younger woman's hands.

"I'll be ok," she lied, feeling a little hurt. Normally Emily would've asked her if she wanted to come, _maybe she's mad about last night._

In the time JJ had been living with her, Emily had learned to read the blonde's facial expressions perfectly. She saw the slight hurt and disappointment flash across blue eyes. But this was too important; _I'll make it up to her later, _with one last kiss the brunette left. It was almost ten and she had to make a phone call she couldn't risk JJ listening to. In the short walk to the garage she took the time to gather her thoughts and focus on the task ahead. Pulling out her phone she called Ollie.

"Emily, punctual as ever I see," joked the man.

"Hey, what have you got on Smith?" she asked skipping the pleasantries.

"He walked into a dingy apartment at about 10 last night, I had two sets on eyes on him all night, there hasn't been any movement since. I can't tell you he's packing. He is our typical target on the run, looking over his shoulder and all," he provided, seemingly satisfied with his intel.

"Perfect, we're moving in today. A colleague will join me in about thirty minutes, call me if he moves," she said ending the phone call.

-o-

"What's going on Morgan?" asked the resident genius, feeling very uncomfortable in Derek's home.

"Should we wait for Prentiss and JJ?" asked Rossi petting Clooney.

"We'll this is about them," he quickly got their attention, "Emily's had someone searching for John Smith," avoiding Hotch he continued, "She called me this morning saying she had a location. If this guy is anything like LaMontagne we'll need back up."

"Does she know you called us?" asked Dave draining the last bit of coffee in his mug.

"No, and knowing her she won't be happy when we show up, but something felt wrong about this whole thing, something's off with this guy. He disappears and then shows up again? The dust hasn't settled yet, we have a bolo out for him, and quiet honestly I don't think JayJe could handle if something happened to Prentiss," his rant cut short by a call coming through.

"Morgan," he answered.

"Princess, can you meet me at my apartment?" he paused to hear her response, "I want to go over everything before we head out."

The other three men hung onto every word Morgan was saying praying that Prentiss would agree, "sure see ya in ten."

"I'm glad you called Morgan," said the unit chief, "we all care about Jennifer, and since we are confessing secrets I have to admit I had someone searching for the two men as well."

The profilers were shocked at his admission, shocked but not surprised, "I have swat on standby as soon as we get a location we head in. I want him alive, no unnecessary risks," he ordered his team, knowing that every single member had a personal vendetta against John Smith.

-o-

"Miss Jennifer Jareau, I've been waiting for you to be alone."

The computer screens flashed an image of Emily leaving the apartment building without the blonde. He'd hacked into the CCTV systems of city and followed the brunette to the parking garage where she made the call to the man that'd been tailing him for almost a month.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, you think I'd let you find me?" he said out loud. He did leave a little surprise for the agents in that trashy apartment. He couldn't leave anything up for chance, so after Emily hung up with Ollie he killed him and the other two men with him, "it's almost too easy, Will just didn't know how to handle you." He'd always frowned upon on his brother's emotional nature, JJ had been expendable, he could have killed her at any time, _but he didn't and now I have to clean up the mess. _

There would be no torture in Jennifer Jareau's future, maybe a good beating for what she did to Will, but he'd killed her.

"Time to play," he said watching Emily walk into Morgan's apartment building knowing that the other profilers were there waiting for her.

The BAU would regret messing with the LaMontagne family, William had been weak, _I taught him everything he knew._

Before leaving he sent a massive virus to Garcia's systems, _we don't need anyone interfering._

**Please R&amp;R!**


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